Consider this: you are a public figure -- you find yourself in a mess of your own making, you are knee-deep in a legal quagmire, frantically clutching arguments which don't hold water; so what do you do? You ridicule your opponent -- your friends launch a smear campaign against your opponent to trump-up public support based on lies. This is what's been happening after Hasina's arrest.

Is it so fundamentally wrong to put a former prime minister on the dock? Be they former prime ministers or presidents, the law should prevail by default. Even kings and emperors had to pay for their insatiable greed and ambitions.

2000 years ago, a Roman dictator was assassinated merely because he had begun to show symptoms of overt ambition. 250 years ago, an English king had the ill fortune to get his head chopped off because of his unbridled ambition and unilateralism. The same fate awaited a French monarch of the ancien régime -- the US president Nixon, although impeached, escaped with his head on.

Despite the state of emergency, the CG has been very lenient, considerate, and non-retaliatory towards dissenting voices. The very fact that the likes of Matia Chowdhury et al could voice their ill-founded scathing remarks against the government only helps to reaffirm that there is freedom of expression.

In matters of law, subjectivity and emotionalism certainly corrupt the process of justice. A corrupt justice system corrupts the socio-political system, which certainly corrupts government and its agencies -- thus decay in an existing profligate and frail body politic is compounded by this seemingly unbreakable vicious circle.

So what is needed? A breach of the circle, creating a temporary space allowing for real reform to take shape -- reform not only in political parties but also in the legislative, judiciary, and executive agencies of the government. The present CG, since 1/11, has pledged to do just that!

Hasina's arrest has certainly spawned all sorts of criticism as well as praise for the CG. Nevertheless, due process of law and justice must prevail. Also, it would be prudent for the ACC, and indeed for the government, to at least publicize all the charges against Sheikh Hasina, so that the blind and compulsive followers (read "devotees" or fans) accept the inevitable and reject all fatuous and caustic partisan feelings.

The law and, indeed, the course of justice are blind. They are not concerned with the person but with the person's crime -- it does not distinguish Sheikh Hasina from Haris Chowdhury or Osman Ghani for that matter.

The news footages of pathetic and near-comical mass hysteria while Hasina was being led away after her arrest only serves to cement the fact that a culture of hero-worshipping is entrenched in Bangladesh society. What was even more comical was the impetuous and defiant Chhatra League parading around the DU campus, chanting and screaming their outrage in a fashion most reminiscent of the pre-1/11 dark days.

Also, the most bizarre display of irony and inconsistency has been the "black-badge" worn by some of the DU faculties (only the AL leaning followers) as a sign of protest against Hasina's arrest.

There's no denying that DU has been a dissenting voice against all forms of injustice, nevertheless, this posture (taking position on behalf of a person whose very name is linked with ineptitude, unilateralism and corruption) of the DU faculties only epitomises the depravity in that once august institution.

Seeing these scenes, a sense of premonition creeps in -- what if these hideous looking and repulsive demonstrations re-emerge in future, exactly as they had before 1/11? What if the whole process of party reform is just eyewash?

What if we are all mistaken in thinking that true reform is possible, that an existing corrupt political party (AL or BNP or JP) could metamorphose within a span of a few months into a party whose members are honest, erudite, noble and far-sighted? What if these parameters are inherently unachievable in the mind-set of our politicians and executives? I just hope these premonitions are ill founded.

December 2008 is still 17 months away -- time enough for an unelected administration (however well-meaning and benign it is) to crack, or to be seen as inept by some peripheral "politics of fortune," which might perhaps bring the CG's inevitable downfall. Therefore, the following might be some steps in the right direction:

• Control the price hike of daily commodities -- an empty stomach only shores up a disgruntled mass, the price hike hurts only the over-whelming majority of the working class and the lower middle class, and that is one big dissatisfied class -- a populace seething under this condition makes an ideal capital for the opponents!
• Publish the details (within the permissibility of law and without any infringement of due process of law and of the defence of the accused) of the charges against the high-profile arrestees. This will certainly help the transparency and credibility of the administration.
• Clarify the apparent "double standard" with regard to the political parties. Indoor politics is banned, the BNP leader is perceived (by some quarters) to be under constant surveillance, and yet a new political party announces its birth publicly! Is the administration caught up in a dichotomy?
• If there are indeed cases (and not "red herrings") against the BNP leader then why this dilly-dally in charging her? You either charge her (and try her case), or lift the surveillance on her, as this borders on infringement of civil rights and is becoming counterproductive for the CG.
• An alternative source of income should be made available to the thousands (pavement hawkers, jute and other factory workers) who are becoming jobless as a result of the government's "cleaning up policy" -- perhaps, a potential source of unrest in the making!
• Presumably, 10 Advisors in the CG cannot cope with this mammoth task. Increase the number of advisors and, if need be, over-ride constitutional bindings -- besides, the constitution is not a divine document that it cannot be un-made, rather it is merely a man made set of bindings. If a temporary over-ride benefits the nation, so be it!
• It's high time a clear "road-map" for the principal objectives of this CG was made public.

It seems that the CG is treading on thin ice. If it cracks then the "politics of fortune" (as the soldiers of fortune) would re-emerge once again in sheep's skin, with apparent popular mandate.

Dr. S. I. Zaman is a University Professor.