AS THE entire Bangladesh is keenly waiting for the post-mass uprising political and constitutional reforms and, obviously, electoral transition to democratic governance, the thinking sections of the people are having a lot of private and public discussions over theoretical aspects of various proposals put forward by different political and legal authorities. The high-level reforms commission concerned, set up by the interim government of Professor Muhammad Yunus, has already published its recommendations, along with the ways of implementing them in less than a year. The political parties concerned and the public would continue to debate them while New Age would continue to keep its readers updated about those and, of course, provide the readers with multidimensional analyses of the reforms agenda as well as the reforms process.
Meanwhile, New Age issues the second instalment of its special supplement on the occasion of the newspaper’s 22nd anniversary that deals with some issues of public importance, which reformers, political and otherwise, should take note of.
A couple of articles carried in the present supplement deal with certain long-neglected challenging reforms of the country’s police and armed forces, which, if carried out genuinely, would not only enable these national organisations to serve the public and the republic but also help restore the dignity of the institutions concerned. Besides, it publishes three separate articles on the Bengali chauvinistic legal, political and cultural attitudes towards the non-Bengali ethnic communities living in the hill tracts and beyond that stand in the way of forging genuine unity among the country’s peoples with different national identities.
Then, with the much-awaited general elections ahead and the speculations about the possible disruption of the election process by the undemocratic forces at home and abroad, an article underlines the need for pre-election security measures and their dynamics.
One article has shed light on the adverse effects of the necropolitical symptoms prevailing in society, which is shaped by the growing influence of far-right ideologies. The writer rightly argues that such phenomena cannot be allowed to persist, for it would definitely affect the democratic spirit of the millions who participated in the past year’s mass uprising against an authoritarian political regime having little respect for the rule of law.
Another article remains a piece of deep reflection on the political consequences of the post-mass uprising renaming of state institutions. Given the deposed Awami League’s partisan naming and renaming of most state organisations, most being named after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and members of his family, it was definitely necessary to rename most of them, but it is important to think whether or not renaming all of them and, that too, following a certain pattern, would distort our history.
We believe that you, readers, would find the articles important and hope that you enjoy reading them.
Nurul Kabir
