Three months that have cost us $2.2b

THE dreadful fear that we have had about the economic loss of the nation in the three-month-long political unrest has been substantiated in the latest World Bank report according to which the turmoil has cost the nation a staggering $2.2 billion. The impasse that had led to a violent blockade and a string of general strikes had brought the country's economy to its knees at a time when high-yielding boro crop was supposed to be planted, tourism season was about to kick-start, and the country's fledgling real state industry was experiencing some bullish trend.   

The deadlock resulted in the breakdown of the country's transportation system, which is one of the reasons that has snipped the projected GDP growth at 5.6 percent, much lower than the initial 6 percent. The cost of the latest spate of violence, however, has been even higher; the WB report does not include the lives lost and the sufferings of the hundreds of victims of savage arson attacks and also the highhandedness of the law enforcing agencies. 

While the government may take this report to castigate the BNP for pursuing a self-destructive path of violence, this is, unfortunately, not the exclusive preserve of the opposition. We, on numerous occasions, have seen the country's politicians make the nation and its economic life subservient to their whims, prioritising violent street agitations over the negotiated settlement of any political stalemate. 

It is indeed high time that the politicians across the board realise the destructive nature of the politics they have been pursuing and abjure this path in the days to come. We, along with the people of this land, in the strongest possible terms condemn political actions that steer us towards a deleterious and destructive course, hoping that our politicians will do the same.