Down the Rabbit Hole...

The expedition that we are on into Alice's Wonderland seems intent to continue unabated and without respite. The latest salvo in the war against reason was the announcement that the security forces had already arrested either seven or twelve persons (depending on your source) in relation to an alleged unearthed plot to assassinate none other than the Prime Minister herself and some of her colleagues in the Cabinet. Among those detained in this scandalous development is the son of a well known (now deceased) contractor who himself was recently made famous due to quantities of drugs and ammunition discovered in his home, a notorious member of the Jamaat previously charged with murder, alleged radical Muslim clerics and high level police officers as well as others, or so we have been told.

Now, not meaning to downplay what is otherwise a very serious situation, but I would think based on the divisive and confrontational nature of our politics as well as the significant sophistication of our underworld, threats of this nature would be par for the course. Former Prime Ministers have themselves weighed in on the announcement and agree on that point, that barring some substantial and new development where things of this nature are concerned, announcing a threat against the government to the people brings needless anxiety to the nation for no useful purpose. What could have been the intention here? What can public knowledge of these circumstance (whether plausible or not) hope to gain the government? There is no easily identifiable advantage to this and none were disclosed, leaving the masses to assume that at the very least this could be nothing more than a stunt or hoax by a government whose members have now squandered whatever political currency and authority with which they came into Office.

The people for their part seem to be tiring of these charades in the public arena and may have become inured to announcements that offer 'just enough' intrigue to sound plausible but not enough substance to be believable. Not wanting to use the analogy of the boy who cried wolf I am hard pressed to find another more apt, and now that hardly anyone believes the government (including in these matters of seemingly urgent national importance), every announcement from captain to cook leads to a debate as to credibility. That they have lost the trust to govern is a given, and if ever there was a reason to dissolve the Parliament and call an early election, this would be it.

If reasonable people are expected to do reasonable things if not always then at least often, then it should be reasonable to expect that at some point governance under this administration would become less obtrusive and jarring as time wears on. We simply cannot carry on as we have been from one crisis to the next and expect stability to be the order of the day, it does not work that way. The tone of a society (especially small societies like ours) are set at the policy level from the top down. If as some have speculated that much of this is tomfoolery designed to distract for short term gains for friends and accomplices then there will be a political reckoning at some point. That this government cannot survive beyond one term is all but a foregone conclusion and I am sure even they know it by now, but the damage that is being done to the 'sugar belt' Party will outlive them and render that organization stranded in obscurity for generations to come. Whether such a development would be good or bad for our politics will be decided by the people's ability to produce a 'replacement' Party to fill the gap that our adversarial system of governance requires.

This nation is in desperate need of calm assertive leadership and stability at the helm for a change. Everytime we see our Prime Minister or representatives of her government making public announcements it should be to advise us as to ways in which they are working to improve our lives full stop. It appears some of them may need reminding that they are in fact public servants in the people's employ and any notions of royalty and other distracting delusions of grandeur need to be dispelled.