Highlights of the 180 days of Awami League led Grand Alliance government in Bangladesh

More than four thousand people were killed during the first 180 days of the Awami League led ´Grand Alliance´ government, which is an unique combi of Islamists, Seculars and Leftists.

According to newspaper reports, official sources have even confirmed that more than 1800 people were killed during this period, which means on an average 10 murders every day!

Number of robbery, extortion, rape and other forms of crimes has reached to the highest ever level since the independence of the country. Bangladesh got independent through a 9-month long war against Pakistan in 1971. Business communities in the country have already started expressing anger at the massive extortion in various sectors, mostly by the members of the ruling party or its alliance members.

Campuses and educational institutions in the country are continuing to witness reign of terror by the musclemen of the ruling party as well as its student´s wing. More than 300 clashes so far took place in various educational institutions and campuses since installation of the present government. There was no improvement of the situation despite repeated warnings by the Prime Minister herself who chairs her party´s student wing.

Repression of press has also reached alarming level. A number of journalists were already physically assaulted by the influential MPs or even ministers of the ruling party. Government is also taking various forms of intimidation tactics against newspapers, which are critical on the performance or role of the present government.

There is bad news about minority repression from various parts of Bangladesh. According to minority groups and individuals, torture of religious minorities as well as grabbing their properties by the members of ruling party are taking place on a regular basis. Even in some cases, ruling party men grabbed temples of Hindu community and started constructing commercial complexes on them.

The government is yet to withdraw the ban on the publications of Ahmediya religious groups in Bangladesh. It may be mentioned here that, BNP led Islamist coalition government banned several religious holy books of the Ahmediya community under pressure from some Muslim fanatics. Despite international outcry, none of the governments in Bangladesh took any initiatives in lifting such bans.

The government has failed to address the power crisis in the country. Although one of the main pledges of the Awami League government was to take immediate steps in resolving the ever increasing power crisis and load-shedding in the country, in past 180 days, load shedding has simply increased many folds. Most of the rural parts of the country remain without electricity for 12-15 hours a day. The capital city witnesses on an average 5-6 hours load-shedding on a regular basis.

Politicalization of civil administration is at the worst ever state. Till date a large number of top and mid-ranking civil bureaucrats were already placed on forced retirement or made OSD [Officer on special duty]. Government offices including ministries are now under the tight influence of pro-government trade unions or sycophants. There is also similar bad news from the military bureaucracy.

The government is going to supersede about a dozen officials in appointing the next foreign secretary from a list of senior diplomats. Foreign secretary, Touhid Hossain, on Tuesday said Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, now Bangladesh ambassador to Russia, would take over the charge from him as the acting secretary of the ministry

Islamist militancy is continuing to gain strength under the present government as there is no further anti-Islamist or anti religious militancy drive in the country, except a very few sudden hunts. According to various reports published in the local press, a number of religious militancy groups were already gaining strength with the ambition of establishing Sharia rule in the country. Notorious pal of Osama Bin Laden, Mufti Shahidul Islam couple of months back had prolonged meeting with the Prime Minister at her official residence, which certainly drew questions in the minds of anti-militancy groups in Bangladesh.

The present government is once again set to allocate two large state-owned mansions in the country in the name of Sheikh Hasina [Prime Minister] and Sheikh Rehana [sister of the Prime Minister] for life. Earlier in 2001, when Awami League government came in power during the general election of 1996 it allotted Ganabhaban [official residence of the Prime Minister] in the name of Sheikh Hasina for life as per the 2001 act. Later the matter was heavily criticized by various quarters in the country, which was one of the reasons behind defeat of Awami League in the general election of 2001. But, this time, the Awami League government is set to put steps on the same shoes for reason unknown.

It is predicted that the present government is over confident on its actions as it has no visible political opposition in the country, as its major and arch rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] is already suffering internal problems, which resulted in severe weakening of its strength since the general election of 2008. Former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is struggling to re-organize her party, despite the fact that her expulsion of a number of heavyweights such as party´s secretary general has caused in massive setback as well as unrest within the party itself. It is apprehended that BNP may need another one year to finally get set to re-emerge as a potential political opponent of the ruling party.