Comments on entry of Armed Forces in Politics of Bangladesh

Ref: http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=265862

Dr. Sultan Ahmad has correctly pointed out how the armed forces have crept into the politics of Bangladesh. The DGFI's failure to forewarn about any conspiracy and then to create a culture within the country that benefits the military to extract more concessions in all sectors - from grabbing lucrative positions in civil administration of the country to floating military-appeasing parties - has not been all that beneficial to our nation.

I remember how active the DGFI was during the previous caretaker government in trying to float a new party - Jagroto Bangladesh (or whatever it wanted to name). The DGFI hosted a program in Dhaka for the expatriates in December 2007 and before that with the cooperation of the Military Attache to the NY High Commission hastily arranged some meetings in some major U.S. cities when Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed was visiting the USA. In all these events the guests included DGFI-selected expatriates that were deemed supportive.

Many observers of the Peelkhana carnage believe that the same DGFI and Military Intelligence had failed not only to warn the government of the conspiracy but also deliberately leaked out the proceedings of the meeting between the prime minister and the family members of the victims. The BDR carnage created such a commotion within the Army that within the first couple of days of the event many young officers were on the brink of taking power in a military coup. They approached some top ranking officers to get the blessing for the coup, and fortunately for our nation, one such officer approached was able to cool them down. Unfortunately, this same patriotic, non-partisan (without any party favoritism) officer who had stopped the coup from taking shape was asked to step down and forced to retire by mid-March, just few days before I was scheduled to meet him and give a talk in a seminar that he had arranged for me. One can only take pity on those decision makers in Bangladesh - as to how they transfer and retire honest good officers!

For quite some time, the armed forces of Bangladesh have been pushing for greater role in the model of Turkey and Indonesia. As any neutral analyst would testify none of those models has proven to be beneficial to those countries. In all likelihood, Bangladesh would not have a honeymoon experience either with such an experimentation. The unfortunate fact, however, is it is our corrupt politicians that have only helped the appetite of military elitists within Bangladesh through foul policies and vices. Little thought has ever been given in the last four decades to the betterment of the real people - the downtrodden masses - the Salimuddin-Kalimuddins and Rahima Bibis within our society that work in the fields and factories, pull the rickshaws and break the bricks. Thus, rather than investing more on social projects that help boost education and economy, thereby bettering the quality of life, we have been spending hard-earned foreign currency in the military sector, something that we can ill-afford on a long-term basis.

What is needed is a paradigm shift - a new and fresh way of introspection that helps our politicians and military guys to know their boundaries of acceptable engagement in the public sector. People expect them to perform their specific duties honestly, diligently and transparently. When they deliver those deliverables that would be the day we can all rejoice.

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