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Download PDF Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed has said the main challenge for the caretaker government is to control the soaring prices of essentials and keep the market stable until the next Boro harvest.
“I consider this price-hike as a disaster. The responsibility of our government is to keep the prices under control until the next Boro harvest,” he told a conference of the elected representatives of local government units at the National Parade Square yesterday.
Gen Moeen urged the local government representatives to motivate voters to elect honest people in the next elections.
Appreciating the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) anti-graft drive, he urged the ACC to remain alert against the corrupt but make sure that innocent people are not harassed.
He also urged the local government representatives to identify and eliminate the corrupt from the society so that people could do business properly and live in peace.
The army chief said peace has been prevailing in the country for the last one year and if the people, particularly the elected representatives of the local government, want more peace will prevail in the future.
“We had miserably failed to maintain law and order, control corruption and other issues before January 11, 2007, but peace now prevails in the country,” he told the conference.
Recounting the political turmoil existed before January 11, Gen Moeen said, “You’ve witnessed how a man trampled another to death on October 28. The entire world witnessed it.”
“For the last one year (2007) peace has been prevailing in the country, and you all have shown that we can live in peace and want peace as a nation.”
The army chief, who apparently criticised the past politics of hartal and corruption, said the economic growth would have reached the double-digit from 6.5 had there been no hartal and corruption.
Citing development in Singapore, he said when Singapore was born as an independent country it had nothing. But now Singapore has achieved a tremendous development registering GDP of 9 percent due to good and efficient leadership.
“We have everything but we’ve failed to achieve that. If we could make united endeavours, our per capita income would go up to $ 1000 from $ 480,” he told the conference.
Gen Moeen said those who participated in the liberation war and sacrificed their lives had dreamt of a developed Bangladesh. “In the last 36 years how much successes we have achieved?” he questioned.
Terming the representatives of the local government the main force of the government, he urged them to concentrate their efforts on the development of the country.
The army chief referred to allocations for development, alleging that 40 to 50 percent of the allocations were used while the rest were pocketed through corruption. “If we can stop corruption and utilise the entire money, any government at any time will achieve development.”
Referring to two consecutive floods and cyclone ‘Sidr’ he said no government in the past had faced three natural disasters at a time. “But it has been possible to overcome the disasters due to your cooperation.”
Gen Moeen said if all the people and the local government representatives come forward, it will be possible to face any disaster in social and economic front in the future.
He said the army is actively cooperating in preparation of the voter list and two crore voters have already been registered. “It has been possible because of your cooperation,” he told the elected representatives.
Recalling the contributions of the armed forces in tackling floods and cyclones, Gen Moeen said the members of the armed forces are part and parcel of the people.
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