Things are far from normal yet in Bangladesh. The clearest sign of this came as Bangladesh’s interim government granted sweeping powers to the army for two months to improve the law and order in the country which has still not settled after tumultuous events led to the departure of Sheikh Hasina to India on August 5.
When the former microfinance banker and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was placed, ostensibly at the behest of foreign powers, as the chief adviser and caretaker of the government, it was assumed that his non-political stature would help bring about normality quickly with the restive students and others going back to their normal lives.
Given the history of Bangladesh in its years since independence, the army has never needed an invitation to take over duties of governance of the country. The caretaker head of government, who took over with the blessings of the army brass after they had declined to give Sheikh Hasina any protection from the riotous mobs, and his administration, were first tasked with restoring law and order.
They seemed to have failed in their primary job as “subversive acts” disrupting stability are said to be taking place and the police force, not fully equipped to do their job in the face of deserters failing to come back after fear of being killed on duty saw them abandon their posts. Their seniors are still said to be wary of leaving the sanctum of their police stations and venturing into the streets.
The garment industry, the backbone of the country’s economy, is feeling the pinch of disruption the most as Western importers are scrambling to find suppliers. The minorities are feeling the heat in an unsettled environment and the chief adviser may not have been speaking in sympathetic and placatory tones when describing the attacks as political and not communal in nature as the Hindus may have been targeted as sympathisers of the Awami League regime.
The good intentions of banking for the poor may not apply for a tough task like restoring law and order and it is the credibility of Muhammad Yunus that is at stake as Bangladesh is drifting so much as to invite the army to keep the law. Maybe Yunus and the regime he advises must be pulling up its socks now lest anarchy finds more sustenance.
