Sadeq Khan
A flurry of diplomatic activity is now tinting the political landscape of Bangladesh. A new wave of optimism for a possible negotiated settlement of the impasse over transition of power by elections under some formula of “neutral” caretaker government will be found, and the country will be spared the misery of the “Culture of Mass Strikes that Suffocates Bangladesh’s Economy” (The Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2013).
The expectation of a new turn, notwithstanding the war of words going on between the leaders of the two main parties contesting for power, derives credibility from two person to person phone calls, each lasting 30 minutes, from the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as Leader of the Opposition and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on August 23. He urged them to hold talks for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing political crisis.
He said the UN wanted to see a free, fair and credible election participated by all parties and that it was closely monitoring the political situation in Bangladesh.
Ban called the prime minister around 11:30am. Hasina told him the government would welcome any proposal from the opposition regarding the next election and the poll-time government. Around 6:45pm, the UN chief called the leader of the opposition. Khaleda told him her party was ready for any kind of dialogue with the government.
The prime minister, however, qualified her invitation for opposition’s proposal regarding next election by saying: “We would welcome any sort of proposal of the opposition if it places that in the upcoming session of the Jatiya Sangsad.”
She blamed the leader of the opposition for being unresponsive to her overtures: “Without responding to my proposal (given to the media), she [Khaleda Zia] issued the government a 48-hour ultimatum, and later the opposition destroyed peace and political environment by unleashing violence, terrorism and subversive activities to topple the government.”
She added that the opposition had brought an adjournment motion about the polls-time government in parliament and the treasury bench agreed to discuss the issue in the House. “But the opposition withdrew its adjournment motion within three hours as it was reluctant to solve the problems.” She also claimed that the 15th amendment to the constitution was brought following the verdict of the country’s apex court, which declared the 13th amendment to the constitution illegal. She made it clear that she was ready for open discussion in parliament, but would not deviate an inch from the 15thamendment.
PM invited to UNGA
The UN secretary general invited the premier to attend the next UN General Assembly session scheduled next month. Hasina said her participation in the UNGA would depend on situation arising as the JS session is likely to continue at that time. Ban Ki-moon also requested that two members of the opposition alliance be sent to attend UNGA as members of the Bangladesh delegation, so that UN members could exchange views with both sides and create congenial atmosphere for a negotiated solution.
During his half an hour telephone conversation with the BNP chairperson the UN chief talked about the country’s latest political situation and the next general elections.
“There is no alternative to dialogue to save democracy,” Khaleda said. But she made it clear that the opposition would not participate in any election under the Awami League government. She said 90 percent people, including the civil society and other political parties, support the caretaker system. The present government and the Election Commission are both highly partisan. A non-party caretaker government and a new election commission are necessary preconditions for a level playing field in the next general election.
The two leaders of the political divide in Bangladesh had thus simply reiterated their irreconcilable positions. Where is the scope of optimism then?
Any scope for optimism?
The optimism probably stems from the climate of a pause in agitation preferred by the Opposition Alliance as well as Ban Ki-moon’s reported statement that he is again sending his Deputy to Bangladesh for mediation efforts (the Deputy came earlier some two months back, talked to both sides, as well as to some civil society luminaries and leading media men, and reported back to the UN Secretary General on return). The opposition 18-party alliance has avowedly started vigorous meet-the-people and public appearance exercises district-wise, preparatory to either hustings for polls under their terms or all-out agitation for toppling the government after Eid-ul Azha in October.
The ruling alliance is also avowedly preparing for polls on their own terms without deviating an inch from the amended constitution, and have chalked out a countrywide mass-contact programme, hustings-like. Noticeable meanwhile is the ebb in ruling coterie’s coercive surges to corner and provoke Jamaat-Shibir to violent reactions and hartals, and a hold on the actual process of outlawing Jamaat as a political party or of delivering harsh judgments one after another in the pending cases before the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh.
In this interregnum, not only Dhaka-based western diplomats, but also the Chinese ambassador has also spoken out for negotiations between the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition to work out a formula for “fair polls with the participation of all parties.” The Saudi ambassador is also perceived to be covertly active in lengthy exchanges with the prime minister and the leader of the opposition.
The Election Commission also called a meeting of Dhaka-based foreign diplomats and development partners on August 27. It was attended by ambassadors from the US, the UK, Canada, Sweden, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and South Korea, and representatives of the United Nations, European Union, USAID and DFID. Emerging from the 90-minute meeting, UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka Neal Walker told journalists: “We have exchanged views on our mutual hope for a free, fair, credible and inclusive election.”
He said the countries and development partners that are providing support to the electoral process in Bangladesh through the EC have come here to know what the EC is doing with regard to its preparations for the upcoming parliamentary elections: “We have exchanged views on the preparations it [the EC] is carrying out towards that end.”
EC faced questions
According to reports, the Election Commission faced many questions from the diplomats with regard to proposed changes in the Representation of the People’s Order diminishing the EC’s power to disqualify an election candidate for gross misconduct during polls, about consultation with all political parties, about excluding the military from the definition of law-enforcing agencies that to be called to maintain order during polls, etc.
It has also been reported that the answers as given to the press by the CEC himself were regarded as unsatisfactory by many, including the immediate-past Chief Election Commissioner, and expressly by the Jatiyo Party Chairman, a member of the ruling coalition.
Skeptics find the Election Commission’s “bungling” for which the opposition alliance is questioning its integrity as a signal, amongst others, that neither the ruling coalition nor the opposition are really serious about agreement over polls. Both sides of the political divide have come to such a pass that they cannot back-track without hurting themselves, and are at the moment killing time, for their own different reasons, for a bloody confrontation that may lead to a “third party” intervention, with the tacit if reluctant acquiescence of the international community, like in Egypt.
The UN initiative is already being publicly pooh-poohed by ruling party bigwigs telling Ban Ki-moon to go lecture about democracy in Cairo rather than in Dhaka where a “valid” constitutionally prescribed democratic order is in place. The initiative, doomed to failure, is therefore, an exercise to demonstrate that the international community exhausted all options for promoting a peaceful and democratic transition of power in Bangladesh.
Source: Weekly Holiday
