Do the ends justify the means?

Can right ends justify wrong means? The believers of deontology would say no. For them, how a goal has been accomplished is more important than what has been accomplished. This means, an action can be wrong even if it results in the best possible outcome. On the contrary, the advocates of consequentialism claims that wrong actions are sometimes necessary to achieve morally right outcomes.
Justifying the wrong actions for a propagated great future has been the most admired practice among the Bangladeshi rulers. Martial law to revive the democracy, rehabilitating razakars to ensure unity, unlawful killings to ensure rule of law are some of its infamous examples. The rulers during the past decades have accomplished their illegitimate intentions by keeping the people hopeful for a future good. As a consequent, we have witnessed how Bangladesh turned out to be a state of anarchy where the ruling party became the kleptocrats and opposition became hostile.
Everyone, especially the incumbent interim government, need to bear in mind this very fact that people have by now lost faith in such ‘wrong means’ no matter how right ends they promise.
Exploiting the lack of independence of judiciary, the previous governments made a mockery of the legal system by using the court to achieve their illicit goals. Who can forget the sarcastic abuse of court by the previous government to snatch the support of a once fallen dictator! The sitting interim government has a promise to bring a change to this injustice. Regrettably, when we witness a warrant of arrest being issued against a political leader on the same day she tried to board a plan defying government ban, and the subsequent withdrawal of it when she failed to embark, we become skeptic. The government must have noted that people, who supported extensive arrest of top political leaders, did not feel comfortable with this injudicious action. People now believe that justice is a means to an end as well as an end in itself.
The continuing anti-corruption drive, which placed the top corrupts under arrest, has generated wider support and brought hope among the common people. However, arrest of criminals is nothing new in this country. What is rare is a fair trial. The more desired and possibly more critical task for the government would be to prosecute these suspects with adequate evidence. People would become cynical if these crime suspects remain imprisoned without trial, which would ultimately question the motive of these imprisonments. Also, people do not want to see any top suspect being captured and then freed under any speculated deal.
People are waiting for the most wanted political party reforms. There should not be a dilemma in choices between reforming the existing political parties and creating a ‘third force’. Even if a third party arises, the existing political parties should go through the reform process. One however needs to bear in mind the previous experiences of army sponsored party creation, which predominantly became amalgamations of razakars, political swingers and opportunists. Such means to reinvent democracy ultimately jeopardized the spirit of democratic values. So, if a third force has to appear, it should be evolved from the political system. For that matter, existing political system needs to be uncontaminated. Without sterilizing the existing political parties, one cannot justify a cocktail made from all these dirty-drinks.
To avoid similar oversights, the over excited ally, not its critics, should be a major concern for the current government. Stakeholders who enjoyed the benefits of the previous political tenures will soon put on new mask and become the advocates of change! It would be more difficult for the government to ignore the deliberate appreciations of the opportunist groups than to disregard the coherent criticisms. However, it’s a console that some advisors have already expressed their concerns about this over enthusiast groups. The current government came to power with the emotional support of the people. There is a risk involved in such emotional support – it goes high with every desired act, but suddenly collapses following a single mistake.
The present government has so much to do and simultaneously so much to be restrained from; so much to think of, on the contrary so much to set aside. It has the absolute power to take the country to the right end, also the absolute risk to get corrupted absolutely. ‘It has the best of times, it has the worst of times; it has the epoch of belief, it has the epoch of incredulity; they have everything before them; if means are wrong, they will have nothing before them’.