This is an archive article published on February 12, 2022

Opinion February 12, 1982, Forty Years Ago: Turmoil in Dhaka

Bangladesh President Abdus Sattar has dissolved the 42-member council of ministers in the face of the “grave crisis facing the nation” and to rid the administration of “corruption and inertness”.

Indo-Pak talks, India-Pakistan talks, Madhya Pradesh, Vasant Sathe, Bangladesh, Abdus Sattar, Dhaka, Indian Express, Editorial, Opinion

The dissolution of the 77-day-old ministry was announced by the President in an unscheduled address to the nation over radio and TV.

By: Editorial

2 min readFeb 12, 2022 03:33 AM IST First published on: Feb 12, 2022 at 03:33 AM IST

Bangladesh President Abdus Sattar has dissolved the 42-member council of ministers in the face of the “grave crisis facing the nation” and to rid the administration of “corruption and inertness”. The dissolution of the 77-day-old ministry was announced by the President in an unscheduled address to the nation over radio and TV. The 77-year old Sattar who got a massive mandate from the people in the November presidential election to succeed Ziaur Rahman assured the nation that a smaller council of ministers will be formed in a day. He said he had decided to dissolve the ministry because doubts seemed to have arisen in people’s minds over the honesty and integrity of some of the ministers. He appealed to the people to cooperate with the government in removing corruption.

Newsprint duty

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has suggested to the Finance Ministry the abolition of customs duty on newsprint that was introduced in the current year’s budget. It has also suggested that a system of collecting an annual licence fee on three-band radio and television sets be done away with. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Vasant Sathe said that he had made these suggestions on the eve of the budget.

Indo-Pak talks

The Indo-Pak official talks will resume in March. The talks were originally scheduled to be held in the last week of this month. The Indian side will be led by Foreign Secretary R D Sathe. Besides attempting to narrow down differences over security issues, the two sides will also have further discussions on an Indo-Pakistan Economic Commission.

MP power crisis

Madhya Pradesh is experiencing its worst ever power crisis. On February 11, almost all thermal and hydel units in the state broke down, plunging the entire state in darkness .