Fair polls far cry

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Advisers to previous caretaker governments yesterday feared the resignation of the four advisers might render the interim government dysfunctional, add to the instability, and diminish the prospects for holding a free, fair and credible election.

The former advisers also said President and Chief Adviser Iajuddin Ahmed and the major political parties have to shoulder the responsibility for creating a situation where the four were left with no alternative but to resign.

“It will have a destabilising effect and creating an atmosphere congenial to free and fair holding of the upcoming election will be difficult,” former adviser M Hafizuddin Khan told The Daily Star over telephone.

He said the advisory council might become “dysfunctional” and no one would want to accept a role in the caretaker government as it has been embroiled in controversy.

Wahiduddin Mahmud, a noted economist and also a former adviser to the 1996 caretaker government, said, “Further course of events now looks even more uncertain.”

“It’s (the resignations) a serious blow to the present caretaker government and has irreparably undermined its credibility,” said Wahiduddin, adding that replacing them (the resigned advisers) with another set of advisers will hardly repair the credibility gap.

He said the four advisers could still contribute by detailing exactly what went wrong leading to their resignation.

Another adviser to the 2001 caretaker government, Mainul Hossain Chowdhury, blamed the political parties for bringing the caretaker government into disrepute.

“They gave the chief adviser a list of persons they preferred as advisers because they wanted their own people to be there [in the caretaker government]. It seems they themselves do not want an impartial and a non-partisan caretaker government,” he added.

“I think the four-party and the 14-party alliances are still running the country,” noted Mainul.

Regarding the break-up of the caretaker government, he said, “The present caretaker government has always lacked coordination and understanding within it.”

“The main problem is that it has failed to establish its authority because it is stuck in the triad of the four-party alliance, 14-party combine and the president,” he added.

Rokia Afzal Rahman, adviser to the last caretaker government, however, directly blamed the chief adviser for absence of teamwork. She said, “They (the advisers) have not been able to work together as a team and the responsibility lies with the team leader who in this case is the chief adviser.”

On future appointment of advisers, Rokia added, “The nation wants to see neutral and responsible people in the caretaker government. Therefore, in no case should the chief adviser repeat the mistake that he had made in appointment of the two election commissioners.”

ASM Shahjahan, an adviser to the 2001 interim government, too observed that the failure to work as an unit has seriously demoralised the caretaker government and right from the outset there has not been any close cooperation between the chief adviser and the advisers.

The strength of the caretaker government is the trust of the people. That has been put in jeopardy by the resignations. The incident has in fact brought into question the future of the caretaker government, he added.

He said it is disappointing that “the chief adviser works in isolation when he should be working on advice of the advisory council”.

“The advisers should have access to the Chief Adviser’s Office whenever they want,” said Shahjahan, adding that Iajuddin seems to have mixed up his job as the president with that of the chief adviser.

He then criticised the political parties for what he said was burdening the caretaker government with the responsibility to resolve the political problems.

He, however, said there is no reason to give up hope, as he believes that the political parties will work in the interests of the country.

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