‘Govt should be given time to curb corruption’

The present caretaker government should be given enough time for completing their ongoing tasks of eradicating corruption and irregularities from the various sectors of the country.

If needed they must act like a bulldozer and demolish everything around them. People will rebuild and reconstruct every thing on the debris.

Speakers at a roundtable on ‘ The Role of Intellectuals on Ongoing Reforms’ made these observations.

Sammilita Samajik Andolon, a platform of various professionals yesterday organised the roundtable at Muktijodda Jadugar in the city yesterday.

Sammilita Samajik Andolon President Dr Hayat Mahmud moderated the discussion while Ziauddin Tareq, Vice-President of Sammilita Samajik Andolon presented the key-note paper.

Harshly criticizing the ‘so called’ intellectuals Major General (Retd) Amin Ahmad Bir Bikram accused them of confusing the government.

‘‘In the past we saw the intellectuals having link with the corrupt persons in various ways,’’ the prominent freedom fighter said.

He demanded the punishment of all corrupt professionals including the corrupt and opportunist intellectuals.

According to the retired army officer, at least 100 corrupt persons must be hanged publicly.

He opined that there should not be any question of human rights of the thieves.

Journalist AFM Istiaq suggested to work with specific reform agenda while Advocate Parimal Chandra Goha stressed the need for accountability of the political high-ups.

Referring to the claim of having legitimacy of the government, Prof Shawkat Ara Hossain said, ‘‘Such kind of legitimacy would be invalid if the price hikes are not effectively controlled and people’s expectations are not fulfilled.

She demanded the mandatory system disclosing the wealth statement of the politicians each year.

According to Advocate ASM Sabur, the present caretaker government has accomplished various commendable tasks except some silly mistakes.

Former Director General of Bangla Academy Prof Syed Anwar Hossain said, ‘‘ In the past we have several leaders but did not have any statesman.”

Pankaj Bhttachariya, Gon Forum presidium member alleged that most of the intellectuals of the country failed to detect the real causes of non-functioning of democracy.

Ziauddin Tareq in his paper proposed for holding referendum after two and half years of every government to assess the failures and success of the regime.

He also suggested the need of communicating between the government and the citizens so that government can assess the people’s aspiration on different issues.