|
Bangladesh : Caretaker Government comes under fire |
 |
Within days of its assuming power, Bangladesh’s neutral caretaker government, assigned to oversee fresh parliamentary elections in October, has come under attack from political parties which accused it of “violating” the constitution. An hour after taking oath on July 15, the head of the non-party caretaker administration Justice Latifur Rahman triggered a controversy by effecting a reshuffle of the upper echelons of bureaucracy and the decision to review some actions of the government headed by Sheikh Hasina.
While the actions of the caretaker government have come under fire from Hasina-led Awami League, they were hailed by BNP-led four-party alliance headed by Begum Khaleda Zia. What set the controversy was the transfer of 13 senior officials, including foreign secretary Syed Moazzem Ali. Awami League, whose government was in power before the caretaker government took over said now Justice Rahman, a former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, could decide within an hour about the “allegiance” of these officials and ordered their transfer. Awami League Chief Sheikh Hasina met Rahman and said it appeared that the transfer of the 13 officials had been taken hastily. “It was like a civilian coup at night,” she later commented to reporters. Kabita Parishad, an organisation of poets, said the “unusual haste” with which Rahman made the changes in the administration overnight was a matter of concern.
|
