Money laundering, war criminals and other issues

At the very outset I would like to thank the honourable Chief Adviser (CA) for his straight forward speech and making the cloud clear in respect of holding election by December 2008. Secondly, by attending the farmers' rally at Dinajpur and encouraging them to boost production he expressed his honest and sincere desire to support the farmers and allocate maximum budget provision in agriculture sector.
In fact the foremost national objective of Bangladesh in the context of sustainable human development (SHD) is poverty alleviation. But it must be remembered that there is no magic adoption of specialist or capitalist method that can convert a state of poverty suddenly into affluence. The only way is through hard work by increasing the productivity of the nation and organizing an equitable distribution of its products.
It is a lengthy and difficult process but is the only way which can reduce conflict and confrontation. But it is a pity that a number of corrupt politicians and dishonest civil servants are making it more difficult to eliminate poverty. Since Bangladesh is primarily agricultural, the importance of rural sector should be recognized with policies and strategies encouraged accordingly since the time for holding parliamentary elections as per road map is only for seven months but the tasks ahead are too many, so the government should prioritize the issues so as to make sure that the burning ones are not left unaddressed.
There are five points that I want to make here. Couple of weeks back a news came up that there would be bi-literal agreement between at least 10 countries on the issue of money laundering. Like many other conscious citizens I also felt happy that some positive results would come out. Governor of Bangladesh Bank also expressed his optimistic view with some caution that the matter in respect of getting the money back would be very difficult. Nevertheless I would like to express my views emphatically with reasonable confidence that if the matter is taken in an aggressive manner with firm determination then obviously some results can be achieved. In fact the essence of truth commission was the same in spirit. It is a kind of rewarding through repentance.
There are two aspects first through voluntarily disclosure an individual may get relief from conscience biting and at the same time quite a good amount of money be deposited to the state account. It is good to know that the advisory council has finally approved the Truth Commission with some modification. Hopefully, this will fulfil the aspirations of people at large. If we cannot bring back the money now, it will be well nigh impossible to do the job later on. The reasons perhaps need no explanation.
Secondly, the prosecution of crime is not time barred. The war crime issue got momentum after making boastful comments that there existed no war criminals in this country, that it was not a freedom fight but a civil war and also derogatory comments on the freedom fighters by one of Jamaat's so called leaders. If the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami were wise and prudent enough they could have apologized for their misdeeds during the liberation period instead they have shown extreme audacity which is highly offensive and unpardonable. Here it will not be out of place to mention that even some lawyers and elite citizens of Pakistan have expressed their profound sorrow and apologized to the people of Bangladesh. So people at large of this country urge upon the present government to form at least a commission without any delay so as to start processing of the trial soon.
Around the world there are many leaders who changed the history of their nations with their charisma, patriotism and magnificence like Abraham Linchon of USA, Mahthir Mohammad of Malaysia, Nelson Mandela of South Africa. Unfortunately this country is facing serious crisis of political leadership. The hunger for power of our leaders has made our life miserable. The worst sufferers and victims are the teeming millions who want to live in peace and want to see the rule of law and a just society free from exploitation. So before election we must have to find out some mechanism that such persons as only power hungry and greedy are barred from being elected.
While it was a great shock for us all to see the brutalities and depression of the police force and party cadres on the unarmed people it was utterly disturbing to see garment factories being burnt and vandalized by workers while the law enforcing agents and officials reportedly remained silent spectators. Also shocking and disturbing are the news that some dishonest ministers and politicians siphoned off money to foreign banks, a gas employee accumulated billion, a senior most forest officer kept millions in his pillows and rice containers. But none of them were brought to book for their corruption during the 4-party alliance democratic regime. The nation could not have known the extent of such enormous corruption had there not been this caretaker government backed by the army. The entire nation is thankful to them.
Wastage is no way desirable. And when it is of a finite resource like, natural gas, it must be stopped. Most of us are expressing concern on unnecessary burning of gas at households, but we have not introduced domestic meters. In this connection it may be mentioned that we are also allowing wastage of gas in the name of 'eternal flame'. Is it necessary? It also doesn't seem permissible from our religion point of view. Whatever, we should not allow wastage of such and other resources too, either at domestic or at national level.
I would like to emphasize now the issue of political appointments of high court judges. Chief Justice Mr Ruhul Amin expressed with great concern that a doom's day in the higher judiciary has taken place with such irrational appointment. However, mere utterance does not necessarily mean the solution; the entire nation is looking forward to observe a reasonable solution to this problem. The honourable president possibly could form a supreme judicial council and take appropriate action. However, second option is, to form a council of elders where a group of retired chief justices would operate gratis to oversee the functioning of the constitutional post and invoke the supreme judicial council.
In this context it seems necessary to make provision for ombudsman in the judiciary to receive complaints for excesses, if any, particularly in corruption related cases and take appropriate remidial measures.
Finally, it will be good for the country if all the big parties including others participate in the election. It is encouraging that the government has opened dialogue with the political parties and we look forward to see a consensus on issues that are essential in greater interest of the country.

TMA Samad is a former Director BARC.