How Team Yunus face wreckage of Hasina’s ‘Iron Dome’

Normalcy is returning gradually in some areas while new fault lines are appearing in others; nobody knows for sure whether some more worrisome things may come to the surface from within the institutional wreckage. The fact is, no one has seen such a messy Bangladesh after the fall of a regime in mass uprising before.

Except for the armed forces, all other key institutions of the state collapsed like a house of cards after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled the country for India on 5 August in the face of an extraordinary student uprising marking an end to her 15 years long regimented rule.

Her abrupt departure left Bangladesh without a government for the first time in its history, creating a constitutional vacuum for several days until an interim government led by Dr Muhammad Yunus was formed on the night of 8 August, embarking on an uphill battle to address the unprecedented national crisis.

A quick restoration of order and discipline in every level of the administration – from central to local, from judiciary to police and from financial to health, education, sports and cultural sector – has become the first order of the day for the Yunus-led makeshift administration.

The health of the economy, however, offers his team no time to breathe a sigh of relief. Rather it puts another big task on his team’s shoulder to cleanse the virus from the lifeblood of the economy plagued by high inflationary pressure, rampant corruption and financial mismanagement brought about by the ousted regime.

The series of events that unfolded fast after 5 August may not be compared to any other disastrous situation as economist Zahid Hussain writes on his social media on the ninth day of the Yunus-led team in office – “governing a country from the institutional wreckage is more difficult than running a country ravaged by a war.”

There are many anecdotes around the world that show a well-established state can survive well for days without a government where the consequences are less profound as state institutions stay functional.

But after the fall of Hasina, the situation crumbled fast and was alarmingly worrisome.

Key institutions of the state were never allowed to grow during her 15 years’ rule though she frequently described her regimes as “years of development”.

After her fall the real state of all institutions was exposed: they were mere skeletons bearing the names and buried under the shadow of her government’s “mega infrastructure development muscles”.

How Hasina built her “Iron Dome”

Returning to power, winning a landslide victory in December 2009 parliamentary election, Hasina moved towards the opposite direction from her electoral pledges she had named “A charter of change”, which was full of promises to strengthen the judiciary, the parliament, the law enforcement agencies and the election system.

She wrote her own playbook.

All the key institutions such as the civil bureaucracy, the police and the judiciary were deeply politicised, installing either partisan operatives or those who were loyal to her, to bring the institutions gradually under her thumb.

The tactic of the Hasina regime was applied strictly: those who would serve her by implementing her partisan agenda would get promotion and good posting. Those who would fail to do so would either be made OSD or be deprived of due promotion. Those who belong to other than Awami League families would also be cornered everywhere in her administration. The criteria for professionalism and merits were sent to exile.

Her party men grabbed all the local government bodies such as city corporations, municipalities and upazila parishads in the several state-managed elections which helped her to consolidate her power base at the grassroots and to crush the opposition across the country.

She did not even hesitate to politicise all higher educational institutions by appointing partisan people to the offices of vice-chancellors in all public universities.

Partisan heads of the university administrations had to provide undue favour to her party’s students front Chhatra League to reign supreme on the campuses and to crush dissenting voices among students.

The law enforcement agencies were always ready to crush any opposition movement against the Hasina government. The judiciary, especially judges and magistrates in lower judiciary, were directed to deny bail to arrested opposition party workers. Rampant abuse of the draconian cyber security laws against people who dared to raise dissenting voices ultimately created an atmosphere of fear.

Businesses were forced to extend their support to her regime. Some of them were allowed to unlawfully take over banks and then rob them with impunity in the name of taking loans.

This was her “generosity”. Those who served her used to enjoy impunity for all sorts of crimes such as corruption and extra-judicial killings.

Hasina thus had built her “Iron Dome” to keep her regime safe. [The Iron Dome is a defensive system to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells.]

Meanwhile, the abrupt cancellation of the caretaker government in 2011 using her party’s brute majority in Parliament allowed her to stay in power during the general elections.

And the Machiavellian machine she built within the administration at all levels collectively helped her to cling to power through holding three stage-managed elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024, disenfranchising people.

House of Cards

It was beyond everyone’s wild imagination that her regime would see the fateful 5 August.

Even in June when her government came up with the national budget of more than Tk8 lakh crore, she was seen boasting with pride of making history with the biggest ever budget.

But she started losing her grip on power after mid-July after police started indiscriminate killing to crush the student protests which ultimately toppled her.

After her fall, the unfolding events remind one of the title of Humyaun Azad’s novel: Sob kichhu bhenge pore (everything collapses).

The police that used their maximum brutal force to crush the protest fled their stations to escape public wrath soon after the fall of the regime.

The Bangladesh Secretariat – the hub of civil administration – appeared to be an abandoned zone as if an occupation force had suddenly fled all the office buildings which were so far under its control.

From the chief justice to the police chief, central bank governor, securities and exchange commission chairman – all hid from the public, leaving the judiciary, law and order and financial sector in a mess too.

At least 626 individuals, including several political figures, judges, civil bureaucrats, members of law enforcers, officials from various public universities sought refuge at cantonments after the 5 August fall of the regime in seeking to hide from angry mobs, according to an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release issued on 18 August. It said 615 of them left the cantonment willingly.

Elected in stage-managed elections, mayors and chairmen of local government bodies who belong to Awami League and grabbed the offices of the local government bodies such as city corporations, Zilla Parishads, municipalities and upazila parishads disappeared fast from public life.

Uphill battle for Team Yunus

After 5 August, a flurry of resignations followed the next several days, complicating the task of the interim government to find non-partisan people to replace them without delay to keep the wheels of the administration running.

Among those, the chief justice of Bangladesh along with five other judges of the Appellate Division were forced to resign in a day which is a rare instance in a democracy.

Without delay, the Yunus-led interim government appointed a new chief justice and five other judges to the Appellate Division.

Situation in the Bangladesh Secretariat became chaotic too.

After the formation of the interim government, many officials staged demonstrations inside the administrative hub, seeking “justice” as they claimed they were discriminated against during the previous regime.

The interim government had to take quick measures to address their grievances to make the centre of administration functional. As many as 340 senior assistant secretaries were promoted up to joint secretary posts. Five additional secretaries were called back and appointed as secretaries on contract for two years. At least 11 contractual appointments to the post of secretaries were cancelled. Deputy commissioners (DC) from 25 districts were withdrawn and posted to different ministries.

To expedite the implementation of the interim government policies, a fully functional civil administration is needed urgently.

The first challenging task the interim government faced was to bring back the entire police force to work.

After 5 August, the IGP, the DMP commissioner and other senior police officials were not seen in public. Police abandoned their work stations and started a demonstration at Rajarbagh Police Lines with a set of demands.

The interim government appointed a new IGP, new Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner and brought some other major changes to reshuffle the police administration.

It assured the agitated police members of meeting their demands such as setting up an independent police commission to rid the promotion and posting from politicisation.

After a consecutive six days of unprecedented break, police rejoined work, bringing some relief in public life amid signs of lawlessness.

But disturbing reports are coming. A new group of extortionists keeps emerging in various sectors such as transport and RMG. On 20 August at a meeting with the chief adviser, businessmen complained about the emergence of a new group of extortionists. They said they still feel insecure to run their factories.

Media reports say with the fall of Hasina, her party men who were known as extortionists in the transport sector disappeared, but those who were sidelined in past years are allegedly emerging as the new face of extortions.

“A lack of confidence still persists among foreign buyers because the law-and-order situation has not been fully restored yet,” AK Azad, vice president of ICCB and former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), told TBS after their meeting with the chief adviser, who agreed to meet with foreign buyers and investors to restore their confidence.

The above examples only speak about the weak morale and lack of confidence among law enforcers who returned to work after the deadly and ruthless events of firing live bullets on protesting students. Subjective enforcement of laws by past years has crippled their professionalism and independent mindset.

The interim government initiated some reforms to build a new police force as the newly appointed IGP said “from the scratch”. The immediate past home affairs adviser of the current makeshift government assured the forces that those who transformed the law enforcement agencies into “monsters” would be brought to book.

Neither the civil bureaucracy nor the police administration is still fully functional as they still are licking the wounds received on the two key institutions during the past regime.

Another chaotic side is that employees of many other government offices are still agitating, abandoning their duties, seeking justice as they claimed they have been discriminated against during the past regime. Many of them took to the streets. Agitators were also seen in front of the office cum residence of the chief adviser.

The recent resignation spree of vice-chancellors of more than three dozen public universities and chiefs of cricket control board, Bangla Academy and Shilpakala Academy shows that even the education, sports and cultural administration were not spared from politicisation by Hasina.

Resignation of VCs and top officials have brought activities in public universities almost to a halt. Education Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud in a press briefing on Wednesday said around 45 universities did not have guardians.

“A list of teachers who are honest, efficient and acceptable to students is being prepared. Appointment to the offices of vice-chancellors to major universities will be made as soon as possible,” he said.

The new governor of the Bangladesh Bank is in action to salvage the banking sector sunk in corruption and default loans. Boards of National Bank and Islami Bank were dissolved to free them from the clutches of S Alam.

The interim government has announced its plans to form a banking commission to bring necessary reforms in the sector, known as the heart of the economy. It has taken the initiative to publish a white paper on the state of the country’s economy. It has decided to form a committee led by economist Debapriya Bhattacharya.

Fighting corruption has already appeared to be one of the major tasks of the new government. But the onus of carrying out the hugely important job lies on the Anti-Corruption Commission, which was made toothless and clawless during the Hasina regime, but now it has been assigned to fight corruption that already emerged as a Leviathan.

Massive reforms are needed in the judiciary and local government system to make it efficient to dispense justice and deliver services.

In fact, each and every institution of the state needs to be reformed to bring a derailed Bangladesh on track. And before the interim government calls for election, a sweeping electoral reform must be carried out first.

None of Yunus’ predecessors had to face such a herculean task.

Three interim governments led by Justice Shabuddin Ahmed, Justice Habibur Rahman, and Justice Latifur Rahman accomplished their duties only by holding free and fair elections, ensuring smooth transition of power within less than three months in 1991, 1996 and 2001, respectively.

The Fakhruddin Ahmed-led government that was in power for around two years during the emergency regime (2007-08) took the time for massive electoral reforms to ensure a free and fair election, which was held in December 2008. Unfortunately, all the reforms were undone for the worse during the Hasina regime.

So, for the daunting tasks Yunus and his team has embarked on, there is no quick fix.