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February 15, 2002
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Friday
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Zilhaj 2, 1422
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BD short-term plan backfires
By Tabibul Islam
DHAKA: It was meant to impress the Bangladeshi public as well as to push bureaucrats to move more quickly in implementing the policies set by the new government. But now that the dust has settled, observers say the just finished 100-day programme of the administration of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia was nothing more than a political stunt.
Government officials of course beg to differ. To be sure, many observers were already questioning the wisdom of taking up such a short-term programme at all when it was launched in October.
Some even said that its formulation had been unnecessarily influenced by the suggestions put forward by US Ambassador Mary Ann Peters on the eve of the general elections last year.
Peters had expressed the view that whoever would take power after the polls should spell out in clear terms what his or her agenda would be on matters such as the export of natural gas, establishment of a private port at Chittagong, administrative reforms and the economy.
Most political observers agree that the programme’s most glaring failure has been in the area of law and order and bringing culprits to book. According to a survey conducted by the human rights group Democracy Watch, there were about 185 political murders across Bangladesh during the 100-day period. Some 1,036 people were also killed while 114 girls were raped.
In addition, an opinion poll conducted by the Centre for Sustainable Development between Dec 31, 2001 and Jan 3 indicated that people perceive the overall law and order situation as having deteriorated from the pre-election period. Some 55 per cent of the 750 Dhaka respondents in the poll also said that terrorism and extortionism are on the rise.
Moreover, there have been media reports regarding the alleged involvement of supporters of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), the dominant group in the ruling coalition, in various acts of terrorism and extortionism, along with the forcible occupation of land and private homes all over the country.—Dawn/InterPress Service.
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