Editorial Desk :
In our own assessment the government itself is the cause of corruption and not the cure against corruption.
So according to us, any move against corruption must begin with the high-ups in the government.
If there is no leadership or willingness on the part of the government, no individual or an institution can fight corruption in isolation.
There are those who express their view that the present government has achieved remarkable success in economic growth, but now it is threatened by corruption.
The question is how true or consistent they are in their assertion. Surely, they will have to agree that what they are saying means that the government has attained so much success in the economic sphere without corruption but now that success is being threatened by corruption.
If the government could succeed hugely without corruption then how it is that suddenly the government should feel threatened by widespread corruption?
Our view consistently has been that big projects at huge costs unrelated to meeting the essential needs of the general public helped corruption in a big way.
One example should be enough to show how the public needs were ignored.
The number of people dying from dengue epidemic is rapidly increasing due to lack of medical facilities. But the government seems not to worry.
The government is at present facing chaos within it for corruption and mismanagement of public affairs.
The idea of big projects as show of success is supplied by the bureaucrats and followed by all dictators.
The corruption has not emerged now suddenly from nowhere.
Now let us try to be helpful to the Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan who genuinely expressed his determination to end corruption.
He frankly admitted that there is corruption and irregularity in the judiciary also.
Our view is that the state level corruption cannot be banished without a system of checks and balances for the government.
The truth of the matter is that certainly the judiciary plays a very contributory role in the fight against corruption when the independence of the judiciary is safe and secure.
Although constitutionally the independence is guaranteed but in practice the situation is completely different.
As for the Chief Justice we wish him all the success in his effort of making the judiciary strong and independent as a check to restrain abuse of power by the government functionaries.
The first thing any dictator or corrupt government does is to attack the judiciary to subvert the independence of the judiciary.
When the judiciary is not right about its own independence all wrongs of the government become right.
The people cannot have the protection of law unless there is the rule of law protected by the judiciary.
We are raising the hard issues not for obtaining any political mileage.
We are only trying to be helpful to the Chief Justice in his determination to fight corruption.
The independence of the judiciary should be part of the efforts to establish the rule of law.
Where the rule of law is absent the rule of corruption wins sway.
This is guaranteed in the democratic Constitution but not enforced.
In our estimation the sufferings of the people have become acutely intolerable and public anger for their hardships terribly deep.
We all know something must be done to mitigate the explosive situation but we have been helplessly witnessing all the institutions of good and just government crippled.
We have all been witnessing how defiantly the banks were looted, public money plundered and money laundering inflated.
It is undoubtedly a great shame that the international community including the UN and Amnesty International is condemning us for our inability to protect human rights as if we do not have people educated and honest enough to find a solution in our own way.
But the truth is that is what we are.
We have to accept the hard truth that the fight against “the cancer” of corruption must begin at the top.
We must not allow the public officials, instead of the people, to choose their government.
It will be a Great Leap Forward for the Chief Justice if he initiates steps to stop using the judiciary for the politics of power struggle.
In political cases mere police arrest must not mean sure imprisonment without bail.