Reflecting on the past year of the interim government, Textiles and Jute and Shipping Adviser Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain said, “This government was bound to disappoint. We never said roses would bloom in every home.”
He made the candid remark during a dialogue titled ‘365 Days of the Interim Government’, organised by the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD) at a hotel in Gulshan on Sunday, August 10.
Admitting his own limitations, Sakhawat said, “Frankly, I’m not an expert in the ministries I’ve been assigned. I’ve served in four different ministries in just one year. I hope I can continue.”
Sakhawat described the scale of the July Uprising as unprecedented. “What happened in this country was unimaginable. A leaderless revolution, schoolchildren, young people, died on the streets for nearly a month, with no support. We don’t need to name who killed them.”
He recounted the chaos in early August: “From the 5th to the 8th, I was getting non-stop calls – houses on fire, police stations burning. Around 40 to 45 police stations were set ablaze. Policemen died. And in that moment, I was handed the responsibility of the Home Ministry.”
But when he took charge, he found the force demoralised. “Even when I wasn’t officially in charge, I saw that the police had no interest in doing their duty. They said openly: ‘We won’t do the job.’ I had to issue an ultimatum.”
“The police force is still not restructured. As long as political interference continues, no reform will last. We need a two-stage recruitment process to break the cycle. Right now, if Chhatra League and Chhatra Dal can infiltrate institutions, the same will happen in the future. I’ve submitted a proposal. I don’t know if it will be implemented.”
In October, Sakhawat was assigned to the Ministry of Labour – a field he said he knew little about. “I was completely lost, like I was floating in the Pacific Ocean. I didn’t know where to begin.”
Soon after, the Beximco crisis erupted. “38,000 workers lost their jobs. Daily, they were disrupting other garment factories. The burden fell on me. I could do little, only form a committee.”
On banking sector irregularities, Sakhawat revealed shocking details: “A single company took Tk 48,000 crore from 16 banks and 7 financial institutions. No one knows where the money went. We tried to trace it, but it’s like chasing shadows.”
He expressed outrage over Janata Bank’s role: “Alone, it lent Tk 24,000 crore – repeatedly, with no collateral. How is that possible?”
He raised a disturbing question: “Have you ever heard of a state-owned bank’s governor going into hiding? Three are missing including the so-called ‘governor of the poor’. He’s a fugitive too.”
In conclusion, Sakhawat offered a sobering assessment: “Maybe we’ve failed in many areas. But not everywhere. We may not complete everything, but we can leave behind a framework, an outline. Whether it’s implemented – that, I cannot guarantee.”
His remarks painted a picture of a government struggling to stabilise a nation in crisis, constrained by institutional decay, political legacy, and immense public expectations.