The truth of the matter is that the nation had reached a total impasse due to the inability of the political parties to communicate with each other, even when the term of the government was coming to a close. The crisis continued till the very last moment when former Chief Justice KM Hasan threw in the towel.

This is when the full personality and decisiveness of the mild mannered professor, who was constitutionally barred from playing anything but a ceremonial role, came into full play, and he rose to the occasion. He has taken oath of office of chief of the caretaker government and saved the nation from imminent disaster.

Heartiest congratulations Prof Iajuddin Ahmed, and I as a humble citizen of Bangladesh, along with million others, will pray for your success.

You have an unenviable job. The nation apparently looks divided. Yet the patriotic people of Bangladesh will flock to you, bringing invaluable support and seeking your guidance. After all the people of Bangladesh responded magnificently to the call of their supreme leader, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and waged a great war and earned freedom and dignity to live as a free people.

Now is not the time to play the blame game. It is time to heal the wounds and put the nation back to the path of work and prosperity. The humble and dignified people of Bangladesh want nothing better than a peaceful environment to carry on their daily lives. Prof Iajuddin Ahmed has the Herculean task of cleaning up the mess.

We cannot be oblivious to the fact that the ruling BNP had heavily stacked the deck in order to ensure victory in the 2007 elections. As a part of their scheme, at the very end of their tenure, they played the strange game of totally humiliating President Prof Iajuddin Ahmed.

Interestingly, when they unceremoniously threw out Badrudozza Chowdury from Bangabhavan they brought Prof Iajuddin, a non-political figure, to the post of president. He played his role of a totally docile president of the Republic without a murmur. Apparently, this failed to persuade the BNP that he would play their game in the elections of January 2007. Thus, a plot was hatched to remove him by showing him to be too sick, and virtually incapacitated, to perform his role as president.

The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the patriotism and sagacity of our armed forces who have managed to stay out of controversy, and kept a cool head. There has been speculation galore about their imminent stepping into the political arena. Foreign missions, who play an unusually important role in Bangladesh politics thanks to the political vacuum created by us, have been threatening us with the imminent arrival of the "third force."

And it is easy to surmise that there may lurk ambitious officers who might want to step in and "save the nation," and who have friends in high places to egg them on. They would be inspired by the dark age of the Ershad dictatorship of nine years.

We owe thanks to our two main political parties, the Awami League and the BNP, who have risen to the occasion and accepted Prof Iajuddin Ahmed as the new caretaker chief. Thus, they have buried the hatchet and returned to the path of sane politics

It is going to be very interesting politics, which the Bangalee loves. The muck that has amassed over the years will progressively disappear. Clean politics, which our very vocal civil society has been shouting for, will give all the opportunity to participate in electoral politics. They will have to leave their seminars behind if they really want to serve the people, and rush headlong into the electoral fray. Over a very long period of time, Bangalees is have proved again and again that their collective judgment is a healthy one, and they will bring to the fore people who inspire trust.

The one thing lacking in Bangladesh politics has been the power of decision. Prof Iajuddin appears to me to be that Man of Destiny to take us forward on our road to prosperity. We want to once again hold our high in the comity of nations. We created this country through our glorious War of Liberation. That is our identity and must ever be so. It must mean something to be called a Bangalee.

Arshad-uz Zaman is a former Ambassador and Acting Secretary General, OIC.