In Bangladesh, the fall of the oppressive dictator Hasina has led to an expected turbulent period with different actors vying for dominance where an technocrat government is trying its best to navigate through these storms.
My ongoing assessment and evaluation of the Interim Government, accomplishments, failures and overall outlook are the following:
Visible actions: Successes of the IG:
- It is not bowing to demands that are being made by main political party, e.g., BNP, nor is it surrendering to pressure created by India using the minority card.
- It is largely ignoring all the negative campaigns and narratives of the recycled politicians and talk show stars, and actively ignoring Hasina-led smear campaigns overseas to destabilize the IG.
- The visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Mr. Vikram Misri and his meetings with our counterparts and Prof. Yunus strengthened my confidence that the IG is on the right track in dealing with Indian propaganda. While no clear outcomes emerged from the visit, one thing is certain: India clearly understands that their 15-year-long hegemonic treatment of Bangladesh is over.
- The recruitment of 60,000 new members into the Police Force, along with the public apology of the new RAB chief, and a strong commitment from both forces to address law and order issues are significant. The law-and-order situation is gradually improving.
- The economy is still struggling, but I must say that the banking sector is improving. I was able to withdraw a large sum of money from my bank. Just four weeks ago, even cheques worth 10,000 taka were turned back. The IG’s main strength in dealing with the devastating economy inherited from the ex-BAL government is their ‘honesty.’ They are not hiding any facts and have invited several international monitoring agencies to assess the situation. Most of these agencies, including the IMF and World Bank, are convinced and supportive of Prof. Yunus-led IG, believing the actions taken are appropriate and moving in the right direction. The growth figure will likely shrink to around 4.5% in the next fiscal year.
- The accountability of borrowing money from the banks has been significantly tightened. Another positive step that the IG has undertaken is quashing unnecessary harassment and unfounded lawsuits against the ex-BAL-minded businessmen, so that they can continue growing their businesses and also pay their debts to the bank. Unfortunately, the number of these ex-BAL-minded businessmen is too high, so the IG had to take this approach to keep the economy moving. A large number of these businessmen are barred from making any overseas trips. They are also being asked to bring back the laundered money. The number is quite large, even though we know that S Alam and other cronies who fled the country are responsible for most of the damages.
- The IG has so far tackled more than 70 movements/sabotages from different sectors.
- There are nearly 13 lakh (1.3 million) government service holders in Bangladesh. 80% or more of these service holders were active members or direct beneficiaries of the Awami League, Jubo League, and Chhatra League. It was the most difficult part for the IG to make any changes to the public sector incumbents. However, they have sacked nearly 20,000 of the most corrupt, inefficient, and masterminds of thuggeries and misappropriations. More than 50,000 government employees have been transferred, demoted, or suspended. So, this is a very good start.
- The minority card issues have been played by different quarters around the world so effectively. All the human rights organizations, including the Commonwealth Office in Britain, the British Parliament, etc., are strongly dominated by Indian agents and the Indian diaspora. They are super active in spreading fake news. The IG has so far tackled the misinformation and disinformation quite effectively.
- Yunus invited ambassadors and representatives of 21 EU nations to Dhaka last week and gave a great briefing on the situation, including the mounting external pressures and campaigns of misinformation and disinformation designed to derail the IG. The EU ambassadors were happy to take part in this historic meeting with Prof. Yunus and pledged their full support for the IG. One good piece of news for students seeking visas to study in EU countries: soon, they will not need to travel to India to obtain visas, as all EU countries will process visas in Dhaka instead of places in India.
Not-so Visible Actions or Ongoing Inactions of the IG:
- Failure to produce the list of people martyred during the July-August revolution.
- Failure to provide suitable medical treatments to the injured victims. Despite commitments made to send critically injured people overseas, so far, the number is very low or insignificant.
- The IG has failed to stop the abuse of law in filing false “lawsuits”, against innocent people – this is a legacy of the past AL-government. Numerous reports are surfacing every day that large bribes are being taken to withdraw false lawsuits (or in other words, “lawsuit business”).
- The IG has ignored the misinformation or disinformation campaign. But many are saying that it is not a good strategy. The IG is either slow or not sure how to reach out to international media and relevant platforms to make its position clear or counterattack the negative campaign. One notable element that people talk about is that Bangladesh lacks credible English-language TV channels where reports and information with credible evidence could be presented and discussed, which could attract international agencies.
- The IG has completely failed to eradicate the BNP and its student/youth affiliates, e.g., the Chhatra Dal and Jubo Dal, from their extortion and syndicate business in the markets and in all forms of business (street vendors, hawkers), as well as in the supply and transport sectors (including bus stands, ferry terminals, and train stations). It is being reported daily how these criminal actions by BNP, and in many cases BNP together with the ex-banned Chhatra League and Awami League, are responsible for price hikes and scarcity of certain products. As a result, consumers are not the only sufferers, but the producers/growers (the poor farmers) get less than one-fourth or one-fifth of the sale/market price. In a supply chain, you do need middlemen, but not extortionists.
All in all, I am cautiously optimistic.