Providing BCL cadres with jobs by any means!

WE were heartened by the prime minister's exhortations to the country's youths when she urged them to become self-reliant and not take to lobbying for job as it was not a dignified pursuit. However, her adviser H.T. Imam's statement during a discussion at the Dhaka University essentially contradicted her by suggesting that once the BCL members got over the hurdle of written tests at the civil service exams  the rest would be left to them (Imam and his likes) to  help them succeed in the viva voce tests.  

Such utterance by the PM's adviser is indeed a shocker to all sensible persons and points, if anything, to what an abysmal low the partisan mindset has descended. Needless to say, the idea that the BCL cadres will sail through competitive exams without considerations of merit is a prescription for disaster as it will effectively damage the quality of the public administration. In consequence, this institution will perhaps become for good the repository of bad apples.  

We are even more surprised that such a suggestion has come from a former bureaucrat who cannot be unaware of the importance of merit in the public administration. We are constrained to say that the idea of relegating competitive public exams to a piece of cake for BCL cadres can only come from minds with poor judgment  

Why are we in this manner sacrificing merit? Are we then to assume that AL or BCL people are without merit? The sooner such self-defeating policies are shunned the better for the nation.