Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Thursday | 16 January 2025 | Epaper

Shouldn't Syed Abul Hossain's honour be restored in government?

Published : Tuesday, 14 February, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 367
Syed Badrul Ahsan
Is it not time to restore the honour of Syed Abul Hossain by reinstating him to his place in the government as he has come out of the allegations with a clean chit by a verdict of a Canadian court? He was stripped off his cabinet post, MP nomination and ruling party position in view of the allegation of corruption by World Bank on Padma Bridge issue. Now the allegation has been proved false and baseless.  
Much maligned, a victim of innuendo set off by World Bank allegations of a conspiracy of bribery, he has paid a price for no fault of his own. When the allegations by the World Bank first surfaced, the target of the attacks, subtle as well as overt, was Hossain. Many were the insinuations made about him. Much was the criticism that people across the spectrum, from within civil society and within the political parties, hurled athim. The pressure was huge, on Syed Abul Hossain and on the government. He could stay on, but that would only embarrass the Prime Minister and the government she led. Of course, the Prime Minister and he knew there was little truth to the charges of bribery vis-a-vis the Padma Bridge. But then, it was the voice of the World Bank against Hossain's, against the government's. He had to go. The Prime Minister took the painful step of asking him to go. She also moved to have her economic affairs advisor go on leave. A secretary to the government was shown the door.
In all these long, agonising months, Bangladesh has struggled to keep its reputation alive in the face of the graft allegations leveled at its high functionaries by the World Bank. In Canada, investigations got underway and three individuals, charged with criminality that never was, were taken into custody. Syed Abul Hossain disappeared from public view. He opted for silence, never said a word about his innocence, never did anything that would remotely influence the investigations in distant Canada. There was something that was impeccable in his behavior. He waited, as the nation waited, for the World Bank to be proved wrong in having been judgmental. Last week, the World Bank was proved wrong. Judge Ian Nordheimer, unimpressed by the evidence presented by the prosecution, concluded in his wisdom that the case had been based on nothing but gossip and rumour. That was how the truth was restored. That was how the Bangladesh government stood vindicated in its stand.
With the skies of our politics having cleared, with the revelation that we --- our government, our state --- were never at fault but that we were made victims of arrogance, it is now time for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to consider, seriously and meaningfully, a return of Syed Abul Hossain to government. He was never guilty of the things he was accused of. That fact has been proved by the findings of the court in Canada. Since the laws made by man and the principles of human morality demand that the innocent be restored to dignity, that their reputation be recovered and refurbished, that they walk once more with heads held high, it is but natural to ask that the former minister be invited to come back where he once belonged— the council of ministers.
Sheikh Hasina has demonstrated courageous leadership in tackling the hubris of the World Bank and the arrogance of some of the powerful nations of the world. She now needs to let the world know that if she can ask a minister to go out of government, she can also ask him to come back to it.






LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
All set to welcome New Year
10 shanties gutted at Pallabi
BNP to return to power, hopes Fakhrul
BSF told to keep close vigil on BD-India border: Tripura CEO
Export to Nepal rises by four times
DMP bans 31st night rooftop celebrations
Three killed in Ctg landslide
Pay special attention to schools for quality edn
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: district@dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝
close