Sadeq Khan
The farce of a dialogue on phone between two leaders of the two benches of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition is occupying the minds of Dhaka elite, including civil society stalwarts, business leaders, media commentators and foreign diplomats, oblivious of the reality that the country all around and also parts of the capital city have already become immobilised by continuing agitation in one form or another since October 25. Mob violence on the one hand, and on the other, a campaign of terror by abuses of coercive powers of the state by Police-BGB-RAB units massively deployed countrywide have completely robbed the people of cry sense of safety and security. The hard fact remains that our people are witnessing a wildfire of violent disaffection closing in on the capital city from all around the country. Nero-like, the ruling coterie is unperturbed and enjoying their blame game and wise-cracks.
On October 30, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and Prime Minister’s Adviser HT Imam briefed the ambassadors and high commissioners and representatives of the UN and donor agencies about the current situation. Some diplomats expressed concern over the countrywide agitation and violence. Dipu Moni advised the diplomats to express their concerns in line with the norms, whichis to discuss any concern on Bangladesh with the authorities of Bangladesh, not outside. The foreign minister sought international election observers to witness the election process being pursued by the Election Commission.
No question asked
No diplomat asked the minister and the adviser any questions despite repeated call to ask. They were seen rather busy talking to each other during the briefing. Only Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden briefly spoke about concerns over the violence and loss of lives. The EU had already made it clear that there will be no European observers in the elections as being organised by the incumbent regime and the present Election Commission, unless they are assured that it will be inclusive of all political parties. The United States had not yet made its position clear.
After the briefing, however, talking to reporters US Ambassador Dan Mozena said he was very much encouraged by the recent developments that the prime minister and the opposition leader had spoken to each other. Incidentally, the dig by our foreign minister about diplomatic norms to be observed by foreign missions in expressing their “concerns” about the situation in Bangladesh “outside” appears to have been directed against the US ambassador Dan Mozena, who recently visited Delhi and along with US ambassador to India Nancy Powell exchanged notes with Indian Foreign Ministry high officials over the situation in Bangladesh.
The Delhi correspondent of BBC Bangla broadcast a report about the visit suggesting that Indian officials talked down to Ambassador Mozena, feigning “non-interference” in Bangladesh politics as their policy. But a Times of India report or the same day clearly shows that India favours the present party in power in Bangladesh and wishes it to continue in power. The report reads:
“Publicly, India and the US may appear to be on the same page regarding the situation in Bangladesh. But in reality, India is increasingly uncomfortable with the US’ positions, and believes it can have negative implications for Bangladesh and the region. Last week, US ambassador to Dhaka, Dan Mozena, visited South Block and spent long hours meeting foreign secretary Sujatha Singh and other senior officials. As picketing, shut-downs and street violence take over domestic politics in Bangladesh, India and the US have shared concerns regarding its stability.
‘BNP politics concerns India’
“But India remains more concerned about the colour of politics being pursued by BNP. This is where Indian and the US positions diverge. The US appears much more comfortable with the BNP-Jamaat combine, who have made no secret of their radicalized politics. India believes if this succeeds, Bangladesh would be very different as a nation. The politics of BNP and Jamaat have become more radicalized in the past couple of years.
“The US is less comfortable with Sheikh Hasina’s government, especially after the PM’s confrontation with Mohammed Yunus of Grameen Bank the fracas over funding for the Padma bridge project and also the war crimes tribunal. There appears to be a part of official thinking in the US that believes, according to sources here, BNP-Jamaat have better free market credentials, and that they would move away from radical Islam once they are in power.
“India is haunted by the 2001 Pyrdiwah massacre, when 15 BSF personnel were massacred by BDR troops in an ugly confrontation. BNP had explained Jamaat’s place in government thus: it would be better to have them in than out. But once in government, Jamaat occupied the ministries crucial to furthering their radical agenda.
“An added regional vulnerability is the Rohingya problem in Myanmar. With heightened communal tensions in Myanmar along with considerable Rohingya population in Bangladesh, New Delhi believes that the situation is ripe for disaster. The implications of increased radicalized politics in Bangladesh would have terrible implications for Myanmar’s stability.”
In contrast, we find an on-the-spot report from Dhaka by al-Jazeera featuring current situation in Bangladesh dated October 26 stated as follows:
“As Bangladesh reels from the deaths of protesters and braces for three days of nationwide strikes, fears have been raised that the country’s system of democracy is under threat, with forthcoming elections altogether derailed. In yet another déjà vu moment for the South Asian nation, the next transfer of power is being called into doubt amid tense political wrangling. Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is demanding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigns to make way for a non-partisan caretaker government to oversee the elections, which are due by early January 2014.
Fresh political crisis
“The 18-party opposition alliance held rallies across the country on Friday (October 25), including in the capital, Dhaka, after the ruling Awami League Party rejected a BNP demand to step down by October 24. The reaction to the refusal has thrown the country into a fresh political crisis – a move that may not bode well for Bangladesh’s $22bn garment export industry. At least six people were killed and more than 100 injured in the mass protests, and there are fears of more violence after the opposition called a three-day nationwide strike – starting from Sunday – to press for its demands.
“The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have urged Hasina and Zia to hold talks and break the impasse. The caretaker system of government would require the current government to resign three months before the end of its term. Hasina’s Awami League first called for a caretaker administration to oversee elections in 1995, when Hasina was in opposition. After a largely boycotted election in February 1996, the then-ruling BNP amended the constitution to create a caretaker government for fresh elections – a move overturned by Hasina’s government in 2011 during her second term in office.
“Hasina’s popularity has dwindled and the Awami League has lost five mayoral elections in recent months. According to opinion polls, the party has been trailing the opposition BNP by 11 percentage points. The government has been criticised for mishandling the country’s worst factory disaster, in which more 1,000 garment factory workers were killed when the factory building collapsed. The building’s owner, who belonged to the ruling party, is now facing trial. The Hasina government has also been tainted by a raft of corruption scandals, one of which led the World Bank to cancel a $1.2bn loan for a mega-bridge project.
“There is a history of pre-election violence in Bangladesh. In 1996, two rounds of polls had to be conducted within a space of months because of violence, while the 2007 polls were aborted after supporters of both parties clashed – leading the military to install a caretaker government. Democracy returned after the military-led government conducted elections in December 2008. The ruling party says the idea of election-time government was only for three elections, the last being 2008, but a highly politicised local bureaucracy and mutual distrust between the two dynastic parties makes it near impossible to hold an election acceptable to all.
The battling begugms
“The mutual distrust between the two leaders, known as the battling begums in Bangladesh for their decades-long rivalry, has not helped the cause, ensuring that politics in this poverty-stricken nation of about 160 million people remain bitterly divisive.
“This year has been particularly violent, especially in the wake of verdicts handed down by a war crimes tribunal set up in 2010 to try those accused of human rights abuses during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. The tribunal has so far convicted eight leaders of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, the main Islamic party, sentencing six to death.
“Jamaat was also barred by a court from contesting elections. At least 150 people have been killed and more than 2,000 have been injured by police since the first verdict was announced in January, Human Rights Watch has reported.
“Whether the future politics of Bangladesh will ever change remains to be seen, as the sons of both leaders have seemingly been groomed to take over their respective parties.
“Despite the political instability, the country’s economy has grown by almost six percent in the past decade, and has shown some remarkable progress in terms of human development index and poverty alleviation. The garment industry, which employs nearly four million people, constitutes almost 80 percent of the country’s total exports, but the government has reportedly done little to improve workers’ safety and labour wages.
“Bangladeshi citizens are doing what is needed for the country, but it is the political leadership that is failing the country.”
After the aforesaid 6 dead and some 500 injured on October 26, the country has witnessed 60 hours of paralysing hartal with another 18 dead and several hundreds injured, thousands arrested, and local strikes against deaths from and atrocities of police actions continuing through the week. TV viewers also watched how in Lalmonirhat whole villages, men and women alike, came out with bows and arrows and kitchen knives to resist police attempts to arrest of a local leader under trumped-up charges. TV viewers saw how ruling party thugs supported by the police were set upon hartal pickets and processions in bloody clashes. TV reports showed how railway lines were lifted off in Lalmonirhat and railway bogies were vandalised and set on fire in Jaipurhat by angry crowds, and after the hartal, how railway links with the eastern parts of Bangladesh including Chittagong and Sylhet have been severed by the derailment of an express train.
While futile talks about high-level contacts and persuasion of leaders of both sides by various lobbies for talks are going on, the country has been promised by the 18-party opposition alliance another bout of 3-day hartal from November 4, to be possibly followed by siege of the capital city, disrupting all land communication with other parts of the country. Dilly-dallying over talks and harsh police measures will hardly offset that stark reality.
Source: Weekly Holiday
