Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was well-advised to leave Dhaka to join Asian-African Summit 2015 in Jakarta and escape the mess she and her hawkish ministers and party faithfuls have created over the city corporation elections in Dhaka and Chittagong.
The city elections are presumed to have been timed to take the heat away from the attrition of 3-month long countrywide transport blockade imposed by the 20-party opposition alliance that had boycotted January 5, 2014 general election and regarded the present term of Sheikh Hasina government illegitimate, having been “declared elected” without contest or by manipulation otherwise.
Sheikh Hasina’s strong-armed strategy of repression, counting on trigger-happy police actions, massive arrests, persecutions and multiple prosecutions of 20-party opposition activists did manage to drive most of the opposition leaders and activists into hiding and keep the capital city of Dhaka as well as the commercial capital and port city of Chittagong largely out of harms way.
Hate campaign & attack on Zia
But the uncompromising hard line of brutal repression provoked reprisals of petrol bomb and Molotov cocktail throwing hit-and-run violence and subversion obstructing roads, railways and river traffic all over the country, with sporadic hartals grinding particularly micro-economic activity in mufussil areas almost to a half. Panic prevailed as the corrupt administration indulged in ransom-seeking for any attention or protection given to victims of violence, more than chasing the wrong-doers, and the police ran its own extortion rackets.
Hundreds of deaths and injuries either from petrol burns or from police fire and custodial killings occurred. Sheikh Hasina and her ministers embarked on a propaganda offensive terming the opposition movement as a ploy to delay the hanging of Jamaat leaders convicted of war crimes, Jamaat being the second biggest partner of the 20-party alliance led by Khaleda. But the public refused to absolve the administration itself of its sins of ill governance and of failure to protect life and property of citizens. When Hasina gave clearance to the Election Commission for City Corporation elections, Khaleda Zia and her 20-party alliance, after some hesitation, decided on participation in city polls as part of her “blockade movement” nominally continuing in all parts of the country other than the cities under hustings. Sheikh Hasina counted on “public fury” against “killer” Khaleda for causing innocents to burn and die under indiscriminate petrol bomb attacks by the latter’s following.
Hasina stepped up both propaganda war on that count, and framing of criminal cases raking up alleged past terrorist linkages of BNP-Jamaat leaders. Most BNP candidates, failing to obtain bail in such cases had to remain in hiding and content with proxy election campaign by their spouses, friends and relatives. When Khaleda Zia risked security concerns to embark on hustings herself in support of her nominees, Sheikh Hasina’s team expressly chalked out a programme to confront “killer Khaleda” with black flags and party activist muscles. The result was a violent attack and lethal gunfire on Khaleda’s motorcade on 20 April by over-enthusiasts of the camp of the ruling party’s North Dhaka candidate in Kawran Bazar.
Spin masters at work
Public on the streets, civil society leaders as well as political leaders and activists of all shades, all reacted sharply, condemning that attack. Another attack occurred the next day, and another the day after, but were both baffled by the public. Some government leaders and police officers’ spins to paint the incidents as provoked by Khaleda’s security personnel’s “tussle” with “peaceful” black flag demonstrators gained no credence.
Countrywide protest hartal has been observed, sparing the two cities under hustings. As the international news agencies noted in their reports, the violent attacks on Khaleda Zia in her campaign trail in support of her nominees in city polls has compounded the “deep political crisis” in the country bringing it to a very “dangerous turn”. The transport blockade throughout the country enfolding the capital city and the principal port city preparing for polls, has remained in place, however simmered down. And right inside those spared cities now, the blockade activists are obtaining active support from “public resistance” whipped up by their fellow activists feverishly engaged in confronting and driving out “vote-riggers” and ruling party muscles. In blame game, it is Sheikh Hasina’s “intransigence” that is being widely regarded as the root of all trouble.
Sheikh Hasina will have time to brood on the unhappy situation in Dhaka during sojourn in Jakarta. There she is more meaningfully involved with leaders of other Asian and African nations in chalking out a common roadmap to leave behind the “obsolete” world order. It is a sixty four million dollar question whether she may remain cool when she returns, and hit on the simple upshot that the city polls do not comprise ‘be all and end all’ of her political power.
Asian-African Summit
Meanwhile, the Asian-African Summit 2015 is commemorating the 60th anniversary of Bandung conference that made a developing-world stand against colonialism and led to the Cold War era’s non-aligned movement. At the opening of the conference, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, the conference host, said that those who still believed the global economic problems could only be solved through the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (two monetary institutions created by the United States and Europe at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944), and Asian Development Bank were clinging to “obsolete ideas”. He said: “It’s imperative that we build a new international economic order that is open to new emerging economic powers.”
Although Widodo made no mention of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as an alternative, it was presumably in his mind as part of the new economic order envisaged. Indonesia is one of nearly 60 countries that have offered to be founding members of the AIIB, and so is Bangladesh.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, architect of AIIB and the Belt and Road Initiative, told the conference that “a new type of international relations” was needed to encourage cooperation between Asian and African nations, and said the developed world had an obligation to support the rest with no political strings attached.
The Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said Japan had pledged, “with feelings of deep remorse over the past war”, to adhere to principles such as refraining from acts of aggression and settling international disputed by peaceful means.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told the conference that Asian and African countries “should no longer be consigned to the role of exporters of primary goods and importers of finished goods”. There was thus a spirit of accommodation and peaceful cooperation for common weal all around.
The world order has changed dramatically since nearly 30 heads of state gathered in 1955 in the Indonesian town of Bandung to discuss security and economic development away from global powers embroiled in the Cold War. Together, the Bandung Conference leaders formulated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, described by India as the Panchsheel Treaty as a set of principles to govern relations between states. Their first formal codification in treaty form was in an agreement between China and India in 1954.
The principle & vision of actions
The Panchsheel treaty stated the five principles as:
1. Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
2. Mutual non-aggression.
3. Mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.
4. Equality and cooperation for mutual benefit.
5. Peaceful co-existence.
The Five Principles were thereafter adopted in Colombo and elsewhere, and formed the basis of the Non-Aligned Movement, established in Belgrade in 1961. The five principles had partly originated as the five principles of the Indonesian state. In June 1945 Sukarno, the Indonesian nationalist leader, had proclaimed four years ahead of independence five general principles, or pancasila, on which future institutions were to be founded.
In the nineteen fifties, the Bandung conference nations together accounted for less than a quarter of global economic output at that time, but today they contribute to more than half of the world economy.
Indonesian President Widodo said the group may be meeting in a changed world but still needed to stand together against the domination of “a certain group of countries” to avoid unfairness and global imbalances.
“Vision and Actions” paper released by the Chinese government on March 28, 2015 on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21stcentury Maritime Silk Road (The Belt and Road) says: “The Belt and Road Initiative is in line with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. It upholds the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. The Initiative is open for cooperation. It covers, but is not limited to, the area of the ancient Silk Road. It is open to all countries, and international and regional organizations for engagement, so that the results of the concerted efforts will benefit wider areas. The Initiative is harmonious and inclusive. It advocates tolerance among civilizations, respects the paths and modes of development chosen by different countries, and supports dialogues among different civilizations on the principles of seeking common ground while shelving differences and drawing on each other’s strengths, so that all countries can coexist in peace for common prosperity.
New Eurasian Land Bridge
“The Belt and Road run through the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa, connecting the vibrant East Asia economic circle at one end and developed European economic circle at the other, and encompassing countries with huge potential for economic development. The Silk Road Economic Belt focuses on bringing together China, Central Asia, Russia and Europe (the Baltic); linking China with the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through Central Asia and West Asia; and connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Indian Ocean. The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road is designed to go from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other. On land, the Initiative will focus on jointly building a new Eurasian Land Bridge and developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors by taking advantage of international transport routes, relying on core cities along the Belt and Road and using key economic industrial parks as cooperation platforms.
“At sea, the Initiative will focus on jointly building smooth, secure and efficient transport routes connecting major sea ports along the Belt and Road. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor are closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative, and therefore require closer cooperation and greater progress.”
Sino-Pak Economic Corridor
Indeed the formal unveiling of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by President Xi Jinping last Tuesday during his state visit to Pakistan was the biggest news of strategic import, set to make a difference in the region. The strategic corridor – regarded as the biggest connectivity project between the two countries after Karakoram highway built in 1979 – will shorten the route for China’s energy imports from the Middle East by about 12,000 kms. For development along the Corridor, 51 agreements were signed during the visit for proposed Chinese investments worth $46 billion aimed at building a network of roads, railway lines and pipelines across Pakistan. The China-Pakistan economic corridor will connect China’s Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Gwadar port, giving Beijing direct access to the Arabian Sea.
The initial focus of development is on electricity to end Pakistan’s chronic energy crisis and transform the country into a regional economic hub by stabilising its cash-strapped economy that had forced it to seek loans from the World Bank and the IMF in the past. “This corridor will benefit all provinces and areas in Pakistan, and transform our country into a regional hub and pivot for commerce and investment. This corridor will become a symbol for peace and prosperity,” said Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Indian media has positively responded to the formal announcement of CPEC and accompanied Chinese investments in Pakistan. In a commentary on April 22, the Times of India said: “There’s no denying that proposed Chinese investments in Pakistan are part of Beijing’s efforts to actualise its Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The projects aim to facilitate trade and investments along an east-west axis with China and Europe as the end points. They involve massive infrastructure and connectivity development in partner countries that will open up business opportunities for Chinese firms.
Benefiting South Asia too
“However, the Belt and Road projects will only be successful in a climate of peace and security. It’s difficult to see Chinese development projects taking off in Pakistan if they are routinely targeted by jihadis operating along the Durand Line. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi slated to visit China next month, New Delhi should be able to sell Beijing the argument that doing business with a rapidly growing India is much better than with jihadi-riddled Pakistan. Even better, China should be able to persuade the Pakistanis to clamp down on terror groups comprehensively. That would work to the benefit of China, Pakistan and India, even as it removes obstacles to Chinese objectives of building silk routes and powering an Asian century.”
At the other end of the sub-Himalayan stretch in the South, we in Bangladesh could also be a hub (and along with the northeast Indian states and Nepal) could expect heavy Chinese investments in BCIM like in CPEC, if we could enhance “closer cooperation and greater progress.” Sadly, many of our ongoing projects are being executed at a snail’s pace for inattention and malpractices of political masters who are simply absorbed in savage bickering with their rivals. Stricken citizens wonder, when will their ordeals from hangovers of the past end, and they may be blessed with an earnest leadership able to vigorously pursue a twenty-first century roadmap like the BCIM-EC of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Source: Weekly Holiday