The government of Sheikh Hasina, agent of US-Britain-India, came to power back in 2009 with the slogan of creating "Digital Bangladesh." Since then the rapid transformation of Bangladesh into a spineless, subservient state for Hasina's masters has indeed been more than digital!  However, when it comes to transforming the country to achieve the welfare of the people the story is one of digital bankruptcy. The economy has been crippled by government mismanagement. In fact, it will not be an overstatement to say that today the people of Bangladesh face one of the most difficult periods of economic hardship in the last 4 decades. It all begun with the stock market, a capitalist digital gambling machine.

In the beginning of 2009, when the government of Sheikh Hasina took power, the main stock market of Bangladesh, Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) had index of 2538.79, with total market capital of $13.86 billion. And then within a period of less than two years, on the 5th of December, 2010, the DSE general market index boomed to $58.52 billion! What a digital magic of capitalist economic prosperity in the midst of global economic recession!! Hasina and her ministers and the so-called civil society trumpeted this as the success of her government's economic policy. They started to say that with this huge market boom millions of people have got jobs. Sheikh Hasina and her ministers claimed that they are living up to the electoral promise of giving one job to each family. As if this was a success in reality.

Small savers, women, sole proprietors continued to draw closer to the market as if this balloon is never going to burst. Then came the big day in December 2010, when the market crumbled to its feet due to huge sell pressure from those who worked behind the closed door to keep this casino boom. Then in less than a year, on 15th November, 2011 the market fell down to its lowest index and market capital stood at $33.90 billion, evaporating almost 50% or $25 billion from the market, leaving directly 3.3 million small investors or 15 million people destitute. This is how Sheikh Hasina repaid her domestic and foreign fund providers in the 2008 general election. This was smarter than the alleged $0.856 billion fund misappropriation or theft by Tariq Rahman, the son of former prime minister and current opposition leader Khaleda Zia. Sheikh Hasina's computer engineer son and aides are more creative geniuses!

For the past one year the government has tried to cover up the scam. Hasina continued the policy of "let it go" or "time is a great healer" so that the daily angry street protests by those who were allured to invest in the casino and ultimately lose everything gradually lose their zeal and vigor to continue their protests and the looters can go scot-free. And now she is eying on the prospect of another round of gain for her fund raisers. This week Hasina personally chaired a committee to oversee the DSE to foul the people once again. Now she is asking the banking and insurance sectors to invest their fund in this market, which is fodder for another catastrophe as evident from the USA stock market crash and its cyclical effects.

In fact for Hasina that was not enough. Her government's economic policy has not just failed the 3.3 million middle class people and made them insolvent. A BBC South Asia Monitoring report on 3rd November, 2011, reports that for the first time in the history of Bangladesh, in order to meet its demand for money the government has taken initiatives to secure $1 billion sovereign debt from foreign countries, issuing 5-10 years treasury bonds. For anyone to understand its dangerous effect on the economy it is enough to remind them that the developed countries have failed to manage their economies by adopting such strategy. The recession across Europe is a glaring example of this. In the current fiscal year (2011-2012), the government had set a target of $4.28 billion domestic loans from the local commercial banks to finance its budget deficit.  However, within only 5 months of this fiscal year, a daily $14.28 million loan from domestic commercial banks, Hasina government has already borrowed $3.85 billion or 90% of its targeted borrowing. The largest four national commercial banks are already on the verge of bankruptcy and even the Central Bank of Bangladesh has made it clear that, "local banks will not be able to supply money to it anymore, because, the private sector will not get any loans from the banks if the government continues its borrowing further."

Looking at this government's dismal performance on the economic front, one must ask the question why the government is borrowing so much. There is no real answer from the government. In fact the growth in tax revenue in the first quarter of July-September of the current fiscal year was 15%, with revenue income of $2.58 billion, while the growth in collection was 25%. On the other hand, only 11% of the annual development program was implemented in the first quarter of the current fiscal and the total expenditure was $0.70 billion only. Thus the question remains where the money is going? Some explanation coming from government is that the price of oil in the international market has increased, so the government has to increase it financing, otherwise continuation of the subsidies will not be possible. This is a great lie. First of all, the government has already increased the price of gasoline more than 100% in past three months to finance the subsidy. Moreover, just in this month oil price has been increased by more than 10% while gasoline price is expected to increase by another 90% in coming months. Moreover, if shortage of gasoline or oil is our problem, which definitely is not, then why the government is increasing this burden on the people by awarding oil and gas blocks to American and other foreign multinational companies like ConocoPhillips and agrees to contracts where the government will buy our gas or oil from these multinationals at international price and they will take 80% of the daily production. Additionally, since it is the Hasina government who makes such contracts to show her commitment to her American masters, why the 160 million Muslims should pay for that? This increase in oil, diesel and other fuel prices just before the harvesting season will definitely increase the cost of production and subsequently will cost every single countryman with increasing cost of living in a country where inflation rate has been around 50% annually.

By continuing to implement the capitalist economic system, like her predecessors, Sheikh Hasina has in reality turned Bangladesh to a bankrupt nation. Therefore it is time for the 160 million Muslims in Bangladesh to understand that, the very desire they hold to have economic opportunities and realize the potential of our economic resources that Allah (swt) has bestowed upon us in this world can only be managed and utilized for public good if we can install a government who will run the economic policies not based on capitalist free market system but based on Islamic economic system under the shade of Khilafah "Caliphate" state. Indeed capitalism has failed humanity and its proponents. So it is time to show how our economic nightmare under this system can become our economic blessings under the system of Islam.

Jafar Muhammad Abu Abdullah
Dhaka, Bangladesh