Rehman Sobhan: Prof. Yunus and the interim government have rightly recognized that a central message of the July uprising remains that we should not go back to business as usual. The reform initiatives by various Commissions and task forces, summarized in the July Sanad (July Charter), serve as a positive move to present a set of reforms which would provide Bangladesh with better governance and a more just future. Our long history with the promise of reform provided by every regime from the time of our liberation indicates that the true challenge is to implement whatever reforms or policies a government has presented to the people. In my view implementation failure more than wrong policies has been the principal source of both democratic dysfunction and malgovernance.
The lack of emphasis by the IG on improving governance through better implementation whether of law and order or economic management has been disappointing and a source of frustration to the people. The IG has brought about improvement in some areas but this has not matched public expectations. In my view the IG should have given priority to diagnosing implementation failure and should, within their short tenure, have demonstrated how policies and projects already on the statute books can be better implemented.
The future of the reforms under the July Charter, in reality, can only be implemented by an elected government which stays in office for 4 to 5 years which provides enough time to evaluate the outcome of a reform. It is a political and juridical mistake to believe that an elected government can be bound by a Sanad mandated through a referendum. The future of such reforms will depend on the political commitment of the elected government, the strength of the elected opposition to pressure them in parliament to carry out and implement reforms and the activism of civil society to serve as watchdogs over the passage and implementation not just of reforms but the election manifesto of the elected government.
The two issues which were very much in the minds of the July uprising, pluralism and inclusion have unfortunately not received the attention they demand. The IG government has demonstrated its own limitations in protecting women, minorities and political elements which are currently out of favour. None of the commissions, including the economic Task Forces have provided any clear agenda for an inclusive development strategy nor has the IG, through the Sanad, satisfactorily addressed the issue of pluralism. The neglect of the recommendations of the Women’s Commission remains a case in point.
