Tale of a junior minister in Bangladesh

Released on = April 11, 2006, 9:54 pm

Press Release Author = Magna News & Feature Service Inc

Industry = Media

Press Release Summary = Bangladesh Home Minister Lutfuzzaman Babar, who has already
attained highest appreciation for his continuous drive against terrorism and
Islamist radicals deserves appreciation.

Press Release Body = It was April 2004. Main Bangladesh's opposition Awami League
(AL) declared to topple down the ruling alliance in the country led by Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) by 30th of the same month. Home minister Altaf Hossain
Chowdhury, a former air chief was totally confused. He was shaky on taking
decisions. Meanwhile, country's law and order situation went into worst ever state.
Every day, only in Dhaka city, more than 10 murders were taking place. Extortion was
becoming a regular part of civic life. Some of the big figures in the ruling party
and even in the cabinet were almost set to resign and join former President
Badruddoza Chowdhury's newly formed political front. At such an alarming situation,
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia decided to remove Altaf Chowdhury from Home Ministry thus
giving the sole responsibility to junior minister Lutfuzzaman Babar. Many of the top
policy makers were bursting into laughter in secret, at the decision of the Prime
Minister, terming Babar to be a 'naïve' to run the ministry. Even some of the senior
ministers openly opposed to the decision of Khaleda Zia and advised her to look for
a senior figure for the post. But the PM was not ready to move from her stand. She
had the confidence in this young man.
After assuming the office, Babar immediately convinced Mrs. Zia to form an elite
force in the country, with the members of police and armed forces. Rapid Action
Battalion came into being, and right after being in action, their first big catch
was Pichchi Hannan, a notorious and most ferocious criminal don. Just in two weeks,
RAB turned into nightmare for the criminals and terrorists. There was dramatic
improvement in Bangladesh's law and order situation. Ball came in the court of the
government. It forced the major opposition party to retreat from their drastic
movement. April 30th passed peacefully, while BNP's position could not be even
cracked by any means. And this was the beginning of the success story of Lutfuzzaman
Babar, a businessman turned politician, who is the youngest home minister in
Bangladesh's history. Today, Babar has already turned into an icon of courage and
commitment in Bangladesh. And, he is possibly one of the Mr. Cleans in Bangladesh
politics, whose name never came in the queue of, corrupts.
It is very often in Bangladesh, for the ministers and members of cabinet to complain
about their 'cold war' with bureaucracy. Many ministers complain that bureaucrats
and officials ignore their orders and instruction, which they term, as one of the
biggest problems in ensuring an effective ministry. In contrary, Ministry of Home
Affairs has a very different view. Top bureaucrats and officials in this ministry,
as well in other departments under Home Ministry are not only loyal to their
minister, but, they are delivering their finest degree of works, for the good of the
nation. While in other ministers, thousands of letters from the people stay
unattended, or in special cases, junior officers give their 'precious' glimpse over
the subject, Babar is the man, who opens and looks into each and every letter people
send to his ministry. Not only that! The junior minister gives specific instructions
on each of such letters or petitions, giving a deadline for necessary actions. He
even routinely monitors the fate of these papers. But, unfortunately, many of his
programs could never see the light of sun, just because, a large number of financial
proposals sent by this ministry to the Ministry of Finance are turned down with the
excuse of shortage of fund. There are instances of the Finance Ministry of giving
approval to less important or even unimportant proposals sent by other ministries,
while they have a kind of ignorant attitude towards the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Today, Bangladesh's junior minister needs a number of helicopters and some other
sophisticated equipment for strengthening or boosting his anti terrorist and anti
Islamist radical operations. But, just because of fund, he is rather forced to keep
a number of planning in deep freezer. Some big powers assured to provide logistic
support to this ministry, but virtually their commitments turned into mere lip
service.
Progress of Bangladesh greatly depends on good governance. And for attaining this
goal, Bangladesh needs to search for more 'Babar' in other ministries.


Web Site = http://

Contact Details = Magna News & Feature Service Inc, 323 Kennedy Ave, Interlachen,
Florida 32148, USA
Email: anita.mathur@yahoo.com

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