by F R Chowdhury
The diplomats represent their states. They are the representatives of their head of states. They bring a letter of accreditation from their heads of state and hand-over the same to the head of the state they are accredited to. Their role and function is to develop friendly and cordial relationship with the state they are accredited to. It is supposed to be a matter between states. Better relationship through trade, commerce, communication and exchange of cultural delegations. The diplomatic missions provide visa to those that they consider essential for development and maintenance of better relationship and growth of business and trade. More developed countries also provide technical and financial support and cooperation for mutual benefits. They also provide scholarships for students and provide visa to other eligible students who may want to study on their own finance. It is always the effort of every diplomat to develop a deep rooted relationship between the peoples of both countries so that things do not change or fade away with change of Government. It is because of this reason that foreign diplomats do maintain reasonable contact considered essential but decent with opposition parties and other intellectuals of the country though they deal all official matters with the Government in power.
Diplomacy is a very delicate balancing game. Diplomats take every opportunity to appreciate openly anything that they think would make existing bond stronger. They remain silent about anything that they think not conducive to good relationship. They try to play down such matters. They never talk publicly as to how they feel about any action of the Government in case it is considered as an act of interference in the internal affairs of the host country. This is what we all knew about diplomatic role, function, etiquette and decorum.
Now we see something different in Bangladesh. As the Awami League Government decided to go ahead with the election under their own supervision against the opinion of the people, the country sank into total chaos. Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the major opposition party decided not to participate in the election. The BNP called it a one-sided election to perpetuate the BAL Government to eventually lead to one-party state. It was evident that most people would boycott the election. It was at this point that foreign diplomats broke their diplomatic silence and started talking openly to press-media for Bangladesh to arrange for election to be participated by all parties. They were also critical of the Government’s hard handed suppressive measures. They called up on Government to allow the people to speak out their mind. The diplomats included those from UK, USA, Canada, Australia and EU states. The German envoy openly called for release of all political prisoners.
Finally we witnessed a mockery in the name of election. The ruling party got what they wanted as 153 of their nominated candidates were elected un-opposed – without a single vote in any ballot box. The Government celebrated their victory of having won majority seats and then the farcical election took place on 05-January-2014 where some of the obedient opposition parties were given a few seats as decided and agreed earlier. During the election Begum Khaleda zia, leader of BNP was under house arrest and ex-president Ershad, the head of another political party was confined in CMH (Combined Military Hospital). The diplomats were again very vocal about the election. The US envoy openly said that the election results did not reflect the wishes of the people. Similar statements were made by most of the western world diplomats in Dhaka and they wanted the political stalemate to be resolved through dialog and a fresh election involving all political parties are held afresh.
Initially it was only India that supported the BAL decision to go ahead with the election. It is believed that Indian intelligence service spent lot of time, money and efforts to convince some of the minor parties to take part in the election to give it some degree of legitimacy. However, soon after the swearing in of the new cabinet, Russia and Belarus joined hands with India to congratulate Sheikh Hasina. It is not difficult to find reason for such action as the prime minister very recently made huge defence purchases from these two countries. Others who eventually congratulated the new Government include Nepal, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Britain was the first country to state that though they were not happy with the way the election was conducted yet, for the sake of the people of Bangladesh, they will continue their activities in Bangladesh. China would never abandon the people of Bangladesh and they also expressed their desire to work with the new Government. The United States also expressed their willingness to continue work with the present Government though they still call for fresh election through political agreement and understanding. What we can see is that most of the countries do not recognise the legitimacy of the election yet; they decide not to abandon the people of Bangladesh.
Let us go back where we started – the role of foreign diplomats. We may be poor but we have self respect. We have seen violent changes but never witnessed diplomats talking about changes in their host countries. We cannot allow foreign diplomats talk about our internal affairs. Such persons should be declared “persona non grata” and expelled from the country. But the question is – does the Government have enough moral courage to take any such bold action? The Government knows it very well that what they have done have not been accepted by the world community. Any drastic actions by the Government will side-line Bangladesh in diplomatic circle and we may be just left with mission of India, Russia, Belarus, Nepal, Vietnam and Cambodia. It is time for the Government to think and decide as to how long we can continue like that.
The solution lies in accepting the constitution as it was before the latest amendment and hold election under non-party care-taker Government where all parties and their candidates will enjoy identical facilities and no chance for any misuse of power.
London, 16-January-2014 <fazlu.chowdhury@btinternet.com>
Western and US diplomats went out of their ways and tried to help Bangladesh with a free and fair election. They are still trying to help and save Bangladesh. But it was the Greatest Democracy (GD) on earth only where 40% MP are criminals and murderers who did something else. Last election it was her money, propaganda and ill interference that put her agent Hasina in power. The same game the GD has played again. As the writer of this article has said, it was GD only “that supported the BAL decision to go ahead with the election”. Even a common man in the street of Dhaka understand and the writer of this article said that it is GD’s “intelligence service spent lot of time, money and efforts to convince some of the minor parties to take part in the election to give it some degree of legitimacy”. Hasina does not need any other friend when she has GD. Yet, she should remember, Mir Jaffar Ali Khan had Clive as her friend, did it help him? What happened to Bangla, Bihar and Orrisa? Mir Jaffar now means traitor, so is Hasina. She betrayed Bangladesh and one day she would regret it.
We are falling behind as a nation in every field because of our political parties and their vindictive manners. We work hard to build new garments and shoe factories and rulling party set light to it and point the finger at opposition, this is not hurting us financially only, within the global trade market it is forcing us down the list. Building collapse in Dhaka, fire in Old Dhaka and many more are just a few of governments act to name. We should be helped and supported but our government instead they are too busy tripping us down for their party benifits. We have no where to go no where to hide from this shain of foul politics. I have seen at least 12 garment factories in Vietnam owned by Bangladeshi business companies. I guess it is the time when we take our investment abroad for a safe return. Thank you AL government for pushing us out of the country.