'Road map' is a new phrase, first applied in the context of Middle East peace process. The irony is that road map is more talked about when the map itself is not clearly visible, destination is confused. In present-day politics of Bangladesh, provided everything went smoothly, no road map would be necessary as the Constitution itself would be the permanent guide and beacon and the pathfinder. And the Constitution is very much in force, it is in force now as much as it was before 9/11. Then what's the problem?
Before I define my goal I must define myself. Who am I? If crisis of identity is allowed to add to the ambiguity and confusion, no purpose will be served. There is not only confusion over the destination but also crisis of identity. After extreme partisanship of the successive political governments it was expected that the caretaker government would unify the nation. If the caretakers could do so, it would leave a durable legacy in the nation's political history considering that domination of narrow party interest was the bane of both the previous governments, to a greater or lesser degree. Since 1/11 the nation is no better unified. If thousands of cases are filed against students, teachers, politicians, businessmen, the government is not sifting the wheat from the chaff or isolating the bad guys but terrorising and dividing the whole nation. If some individuals are corrupt, or presumed to be so, there is no point in demoralising politics as a whole. When politics is kept in suspension over a long time that itself will tend to enfeeble the country's political base. If fear lurks, or is allowed to lurk, the question will not only be when is the election but also what after the election.
The present government is variously billed as national government, caretaker government, interim government, etc. Without going into the plurality of nomenclatures and their intended or unintended implications, it can be said that all previous caretaker governments were, in spirit, participatory and consultative. The present government acts unilaterally. And its tenure is open-ended. Some vague time-table for the election has been given, but that too unilaterally. The priest will decide on the wedding date without consulting those to be blessed. The law and information adviser described the present administration as a military-backed 'national government' And he said there should not be any confusion about its exit plan. The latter part of his statement is of course reassuring.
The next day the army chief General Moeen U Ahmed contradicted the law and information adviser by saying that he does not think it is an army-backed national government, and that it is a caretaker government. Stating the obvious, he also said the army is always with the government like police or civil administration and it cannot remain isolated from any government. However, General Moeen's stand was more comprehensible. Firstly, the present government is rooted in the caretaker government of October, 2006 and secondly, it does not represent any national compact, much less the political mainstream, on the strength of which one could call it national government. In practical terms, the government deviates from the caretaker spirit when it takes drastic decisions some of which look like a quickening of the implementation of the World Bank/IMF agenda.
There is no denying that the pettiness and myopia of some political leaders made the emergency and the subsequent happenings inevitable. This was an exigency of the moment and not a historical necessity. Politicians have erred in the past and will err in the future. And it should also be remembered that in recent years politics was not fully in control of professional politicians; retired army officers, ex-bureaucrats, businessmen were often deciding things. But it is politicians who will ultimately be required to deliver. The corruptive influences in the nation's politics certainly need to be exorcised but that is what political reform is all about. The best reform is self-reform. If extra-political forces take it upon themselves to carry out the necessary or unnecessary subtraction exercise - minus two or minus one, accompanied by plus one in the shape of Qureshi and his PDP - then, well, voters will have no chance to do their own subtraction or addition or supplementation. Are we then going to have at the end of 2008 a made-to-order democracy, or - to use a more familiar term - 'guided' democracy?
The need is to clear the smog which has been thickening. The time frame for making it to the successive stages leading to the JS should be announced. Good intention is not enough; it should be demonstrably so in people's view. Different quarters, internal and foreign, are calling for lifting of the emergency. That would mark an important stage in the journey. In a free and open atmosphere I could at least see myself and try to figure out who I am. So far I only know whence I came, but do not know who I am and where I am headed.
