While there is a moratorium on political activities, politicians, including Hasina, and the people are voicing their opinions everyday on TV talk shows, newspaper columns and street corners (snap shot of public reaction Channel I). She simply doesn't want to hear, what the people have to say about the reform process.

The AL chief further said: "The main goal of my struggle for the last 26 years has been to establish the fundamental, democratic, constitutional and voting rights of the people. I struggled so that the people could get a better life, and the poor would no longer remain poor."

This may be what Hasina believes, but she never denounced "Baksal," and her alliance (before the January 22 defunct election) with Khelafat Majlish -- an ultra-religious rightist party -- is a clear manifestation of her hypocritical character.

Can Hasina restrain her propensity to make hypocritical statements? Perhaps she cannot, as there is scientific evidence correlating deceptive behaviour with leadership qualities. A 1993 study by Colgate University psychologist Caroline Keating found that the best liars among pre-school children emerge as leaders during play periods.

With adults she found that "leaders are the best misleaders." A succession of philosophers, from Plato to Machiavelli to Disraeli, has observed that lying is a legitimate element of governing. Sissela Bok, a Harvard philosopher who has written extensively on the subject, said that politicians often claim an ethical basis for deliberately misleading the public.

Although Hasina's contentious rhetoric (May 19 interview with Sumon Chakrabarti of CNN-IBN) that the CTG is employing "delaying tactics" is baseless, her distrust of the army-backed government (ABG) is a widely shared sentiment and a justifiable one, if the past military usurpers are any guide.

However, as I explicated more than once, this ABG is uniquely positioned, not for grabbing "political power" but for circumscribing the "political influence" of the elected government over the institutions of governance, such as the ACC, the police, Rab, NBR, PSC, EC, and the judiciary, through reforming their modus operandi.

Regrettably, it's no coincidence that a former premier who has no record of undertaking any notable reforms during her rule doesn't see much virtue in reforms that have already been accomplished by this ABG.

Election will be held no later than December 2008. Both Hasina and Khaleda can expedite the reform process by cooperating with the EC while keeping the pressure on the ABG to drive the engines of reforms, including the on-going crusade against corruption.

Hasina, at times, seems to mix up people with politicians and. Of course, the politicians are feeling marginalized because they're being restrained from politicking. But there is absolutely no evidence that the people in general are longing for the return of hartals, lockouts and auborods (barricade) and countrywide blockade of highways and seaports. All available indications are that the ABG has given the people a breathing space that is free of the rancorous politics that shaped the pre-January 11 period.

No one disputes Hasina's love for the country and the people. That is true of Khaleda also. But their actions contradict their claims, possibly because their loyalty to the country is overshadowed by their allegiance to family and party members.

Khaleda agreed to leave the country if her sons were released from detention. To Khaleda, family comes first, party next and the country can go to the dogs, as it surely did. If her love for the country was more than it was for her family she couldn't have been persuaded to leave the country.

One senior BNP leader recently suggested that it was the "kitchen cabinet" not Khaleda which should be responsible for the mistakes and oversights that occurred in her administration. Did the "kitchen cabinet" also advise Khaleda to overlook her family members' indulgence in the limitless looting of the country?

Politics in both AL and BNP are certainly dynastic no question about it. It's obvious in Khaleda's case. Hasina, to her credit, has been practicing dynastic politics differently -- but only in format. A law professor of Dhaka University observed that Hasina's son Joy is received at the airport by the AL standing committee and other members, a privilege reserved only for senior leaders. 24 nominations were accorded to her relatives in national elections, many of whom had no political grooming or academic competence. What would you call this if not family politics?

Her kinship with party hooligans became so close that she, for example, gave nomination for the January 22 defunct election for a Feni constituency MP seat to the notorious Zainal Hazari's sister, a woman who possessed only a fifth grade education -- that is Hasina's sense and sensibility. There are numerous such examples in both AL and BNP. Therefore, for a healthy and sustainable democracy, and corruption diminished governance, there's no alternative to groundbreaking intra-party reforms.

The CEC, Shamsul Huda, accurately diagnosed the reason why political parties may be hesitant in introducing intra-party reforms when he acknowledged that reforms are unpleasant as there are both, losers and gainers. I'd say that the losers are the ones who find ultimate comfort in political power they are the ones the ACC are looking for, and they're the ones the EC and political parties must disbar from the political realm.

To give some relief to the suffocating politicians, I'd recommend their inclusion in consultant positions now being contemplated both for giving some political quintessence of the ABG as well as political party participation in governance. This will also be a rewarding orientation for learning about efficient decision-making free of political pressure in a corruption free setting.

It would be quite inexplicable if politicians, under the prevailing conditions, didn't feel suffocated. If I were in their shoes, perpetually fearful of being booked for extortion, corruption, or some other crime, I would certainly feel suffocated. My suffocation would become compounded if my sons or party cronies were imprisoned, and I was being investigated or sued for extortion. And my suffocation would take the form of "strangling" if I found myself being challenged for my own party's leadership position.

Dr. Abdullah A Dewan is Professor of Economics at Eastern Michigan University.