Political confrontation
While the rest of the world is bracing for the coming economic crisis, we are bleakly staring at the prospect of a severe political confrontation. Our political leaders are behaving as if we live in an isolated world not linked to a global market, as if global economic turmoil has no impact on us. Already rising oil price is straining our foreign exchange reserve and the protests in the Arab world have negatively impacted on our manpower export. Garment industry having done well is nervous about the impact of the financial crisis in the Eurozone.
Given all our vulnerability we are blissfully moving towards a political confrontation. Yes, Bangladesh's economy has done well in spite of the global recession. But it is well known that our economy is extremely fragile and the slightest of changes and turbulence in the external situations can cause havoc in the domestic market.
It is in relation to the economy that we find the activities of our political leaders quite incomprehensible. The opposition has been asking for this government to quit from the very beginning. Why, we have never been able to understand. On the government's side abolishing the caretaker system, without consulting the opposition, was a decision that no opposition in Bangladesh would ever accept. The AL would not have accepted such a decision if BNP had done it while in power.
We are greatly relieved that BNP's car march to Sylhet went peacefully. We are also happy that AL did not try to obstruct it. More of such car march in the future will increase the possibility of clash and violence. Before the political situation gets more volatile and political parties get more entrenched in their respective positions can we plead for some sort of dialogue. As we have seen in the past, political conflicts were never resolved by force. At the end, there had to be some understanding.
The simple truth is that our economy will not be able to absorb a prolonged political strife, and most of our gains may be lost because of this mindless confrontation.
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