Home Minister calls for neutral probe into interim government’s 18-month record

Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Sunday called for a neutral investigation into the interim government’s 18-month activities, saying the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) should be instructed immediately to examine where corruption took place and who was involved. He made the remarks while taking part in the budget debate in the Parliament.

Salahuddin Ahmed said, “The Anti-Corruption Commission should be instructed immediately to examine everything — where corruption occurred and who was behind it.”

During the sitting, the Home Minister sharply responded to remarks by Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Shahjahan Chowdhury. Earlier, Shahjahan Chowdhury had claimed, “To understand Jamaat, one must know 100 years of history.”

In response, Salahuddin Ahmed said the party was founded on August 26, 1941, meaning its history has not yet reached 100 years. Salahuddin Ahmed also said that during the 1971 Liberation War, the then Jamaat-e-Islami had strongly opposed Bangladesh’s independence and that two of its leaders had joined the Pakistan government’s cabinet at the time. He said these were indisputable parts of history and had also been legally established.

Salahuddin Ahmed said Jamaat-e-Islami’s current election manifesto contains no clear commitment to establishing a Shariah-based state, Islamic judicial system, Islamic economy or the implementation of Shariah law. Salahuddin Ahmed said the party had effectively changed its political position over time.

Referring to the white paper on corruption during the Awami League government, the minister said the country’s economy had suffered extensive and long-term damage over the past one and a half decades because of unchecked corruption, money laundering and political influence.

Salahuddin Ahmed, however, described the proposed budget as a “new economic order”. He said the budget gave the highest priority to social safety nets, agriculture, education, health and the protection of poor people. Salahuddin Ahmed also expressed hope that the absence of any new tax on essential commodities would bring relief to the public.