Experts flag slow reforms, law and order failures
Policy analysts, legal experts and business leaders have raised pointed concerns about the pace of institutional reform, deteriorating law and order, economic fragility and mounting geopolitical pressure facing the BNP-led government in its first three months in office — while cautioning that inherited crises cannot serve as an indefinite shield against scrutiny.
The observations emerged at a webinar titled “3 Months of the New Government: A Preliminary Review”, organised by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC). The discussion was moderated by PPRC Executive Chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman and featured Supreme Court lawyer Jyotirmoy Barua, former BKMEA president Fazlul Hoque, Lt Gen (retd) Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman and former ambassador Sufiur Rahman.
The most direct assessment of the government’s institutional performance came from Advocate Barua, who said progress on one of the central reform promises — depoliticising state institutions — had not yet materialised.
“The key question for these three months is whether we have moved away from the politicisation of institutions. Progress has not so far been visible,” he said.
Barua noted that civil administration appointments continued to reflect what he called “old patterns”, while police morale remained low and incidents of mob violence and deteriorating law and order persisted.
He also flagged weaknesses in judicial and administrative culture, warning that public confidence in institutions remained fragile.
Moderator Zillur Rahman broadened the governance critique, urging a shift away from what he described as an entrenched “tag culture” in Bangladeshi politics — a practice of labelling political opponents that, he argued, corrodes constructive debate and honest assessments of governance performance.
“If our elected government succeeds, that is ultimately good for all of us as citizens,” he said, calling for evidence-based public discourse over emotion-driven politics.
On the economic front, former BKMEA president Fazlul Hoque offered a sobering diagnosis, describing the government as having inherited compounded structural failures from both the previous regime and the subsequent interim administration — burdens made heavier by the ongoing Middle East crisis.
“This government has had to absorb the failures of the interim administration, and with the Middle East crisis arriving on top of that, the need for a bold contractionary budget with decisive measures has never been greater,” he said.
Fazlul warned that private sector credit had fallen to its lowest level, while exports were declining and investment conditions remained uncertain.
He said rising oil prices, disruptions across multiple export markets and declining global consumer spending were applying multilayered pressure on Bangladesh’s economy from the outset of the government’s term.
While acknowledging the severity of the inherited conditions, participants at the webinar stressed that such circumstances could not justify indefinitely delayed reforms or weak implementation.
Lt Gen (retd) Mahfuzur Rahman offered a strategic assessment of Bangladesh’s rapidly shifting external environment, describing the country’s geopolitical position as increasingly complex amid intensifying great-power competition.
He pointed to growing Chinese and Indian influence in the region alongside expanding United States engagement in the Bay of Bengal as forces reshaping Bangladesh’s diplomatic calculations in ways that demand careful and sustained statecraft.
“Bangladesh must master the art of adversarial cooperation with meritocracy, balancing ambiguous relationships across the India-US-Bangladesh and China-Pakistan-Bangladesh axes to survive and secure its interests,” he said.
Former ambassador Sufiur Rahman urged the government to prioritise national unity as a foundation for effective bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
He cautioned against discarding prior policy initiatives purely on political grounds, arguing that institutional experience and continuity held strategic value.
He also stressed the importance of deeper engagement with ASEAN, describing it as a long-term priority for Bangladesh’s economic and diplomatic interests that should not be allowed to drift.
The webinar reflected a broader sentiment among the participants that the new government, while operating under genuinely difficult conditions, must accelerate the pace of reform and strengthen implementation if it is to translate its electoral mandate into credible governance.
