Just as the political leadership of Bangladesh is unable to reach a consensus on any domestic issue, similarly they are equally adamant on foreign policy issues. BNP leaders say the border with Myanmar is turbulent and unsafe due to the government’s subservient foreign policy. On the other hand, Awami League leaders are not ready to pay heed to BNP’s views. They forget that violence at the border can spread and affect the entire country.
Myanmar is currently in a state of war and it cannot be said when it will end. Security experts do not expect the collapse of military rule there in the near future. The big neighbor which has been supporting the army in Myanmar for so long will not allow this to happen. The problem for Bangladesh is that no matter how optimistic the leaders make the rhetoric, the return of the more than 1.15 million Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh has become even more uncertain and difficult.
Awami League General Secretary talked about economic challenges. This also includes the disaster in the banking sector. This includes lakhs of taka being taken out of the country, prices of essential commodities becoming beyond the reach of common people. Just a few days after the elections, the price of rice increased by 6 to 10 taka. Onion prices are out of control. There is no response on these issues.
When the prices of any commodity increase, ministers and secretaries hold meetings, instructions are issued from above, but there is no monitoring to ensure that the instructions are followed. In the past, many ministers had blamed unscrupulous traders, syndicates etc. for the price rise. The new Minister of State for Commerce Ahsanul Islam alias Tito is not willing to use the word ‘syndicate’. He refers to them as ‘big fish’. Just as big fishes swallow small fishes in a pond, similarly a handful of people are picking people’s pockets in the name of trade and commerce. The Minister of State says that these big fishes are swallowing everything in water, land and sky. When they think that the government is going to reduce the duty on a commodity, they increase the prices in advance. It is much like discount sales in shopping malls.
On February 7, Dainik Banik Barta reported that the price of soybean oil in the international market is the lowest in three years. Yet last month too, traders here had increased the price of bottled soybean oil by four taka per liter without consulting the government.