WE ARE worried. We are worried after the interim government says that there is no need for the citizens to be worried about its tenure. We are worried because people are still in the dark about the intention and the terms of reference of the interim government. An interim government everywhere in the world is a transitional government under provisional leadership to manage a period of transition often after the collapse of the government or the state the like of which has happened here after weeks of protests for the month of July and the five days of August. Aspirations for a truly representative government that is elected democratically through free, fair, participatory and representative elections have always accompanied the nation since the birth of Bangladesh. The struggle continues for a government elected this way to govern the country. The interim government that has now been installed 鈥� in a situation that the student protests culminating into a student-mass uprising against the authoritarian of the Awami League towards the end of July and in the beginning of August resulted in 鈥� should not forget to honour the birth-time aspirations of Bangladesh and the democratic values that have come along with it.
Despite the enormous sacrifice of the students and people in July鈥揂ugust that has resulted in the overthrow of the government of Sheikh Hasina after about a decade and a half of the authoritarian rule that has left hundreds of people dead, thousands without justice, a far higher number of people tortured and jailed and the whole nation repressed and reeling from constraints, the incumbent government should realise that the process that has brought it began 15 years ago. This is not the end of it and this is not the beginning of it. We are, therefore, worried that this interim government has not yet announced its tenure and its agenda鈥� political, economic and otherwise. When some journalists have asked a couple of advisers to the interim government about the tenure, they are seen to have given a reaction that is reflective of apparent resentment. The words that the government speaks mostly suggest that it is intent on effecting reforms that could take years. But we should think about democratic reforms that the aspirations of the people have embodied. We should know of the reform agenda that the government has on its platter. We should also know how the mechanism for the accountability of the interim government would work, for an interim government, however popular it is today, cannot continue without accountability. Given the background of the members of the interim government, we hardly find any political mind at play. The tenure of the incumbents should, therefore, be clearly defined. The government should step on a path towards an elected government without much delay and leave the all-pervasive reforms that this government is talking of to an elected government that is to come.
The interim government must, therefore, immediately make public its terms of reference and agenda, announce the tenure of the government and let people know of the width and breadth of the reforms that it has on its platter.