Bangladesh democracy in doldrums

By Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury

(March 03, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Foreign direct investment in Bangladesh totalled $941 million in the fiscal year to June 2009. According to Central Bank, investment confidence in Bangladesh also rose in the first quarter [July-September] of the current fiscal year, although figures were not available.

A recent commentary by Reuters said, “However, a little more than a year after Sheikh Hasina was sworn in, many Bangladeshis say things are turning sour, and question whether investment flows will keep rising, as the top political parties continue at loggerheads and there are signs of increasing violent crime, much of it linked to political groups.”

It said, “Political feuds propelled by recent student unrest and long-standing animosity among leaders have raised concerns among overseas donors and friendly governments about impoverished Bangladesh's long-term stability.”

Delegates at Bangladesh Development Forum meeting warned Bangladeshi participants against a bitterly personal and rigidly partisan political climate undercutting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's goal of making the country, where some 40 percent of the population now gets by on under $1 a day, a middle income nation by 2021.

Renata Dessallien, U.N. Resident Director in Bangladesh, told the meeting that "Bangladesh's democracy has been hampered by excessive competition between the two major political parties -- a competition that has sometimes exceeded normal democratic parameters."

"Yes," said Bangladesh Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. "Political division is harmful for development activities and so we are trying to make parliament functional."

But even as the meeting was in progress, lawmakers from Hasina's Awami League and ex-prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] fiercely traded what parliament's speaker said were "unparliamentary and abusive" words, and the BNP staged several walkouts from the legislative body at the time of the aid meeting. The BNP only recently started attending parliament at all, after a near year-long boycott, claiming unfair treatment by the Awami League, which leads a coalition with a more than two-thirds majority in the 345-seat legislature.

The December 2008 general election, which was held under the military controlled interim government headed by General Moeen u Ahmed brought hopes for political stability and possible cooperation among the top two parties -- each headed by a strong-willed woman from families long prominent in politics -- in a country whose near 40 years of independence have seen sporadic bouts of military rule and street fighting and violence between the parties.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party has been terming the election of 2008 as ‘Engineered Election’ saying; General Moeen plotted the entire electoral game plan to place Bangladesh Awami League in power, sensing its sympathetic attitude towards this former army chief, who is accused of violating military codes and laws by behaving like a politician while he was in service.

General Moeen, on a number of public functions during the military controlled interim government passed offensive remarks about the politicians en messe and wrote a political book, got it published while in service in a colourful manner by using his position as the virtual head of the interim government.

It was even rumoured that, General Moeen was aspiring to become head of the government with the help of some of the members of ‘civil society’ in Bangladesh. A number of former ambassadors, including Waliur Rahman [who now has turned into one of the front-ranking activist of Bangladesh Awami League] was continuing global campaign with the aim of getting international support for General Moeen to finally set him as the head of the government and head of the state in Bangladesh. It was reported in press as well endorsed by former ambassador Waliur Rahman on various television channels that, several meetings between him and General Moeen as well interim government’s CE Fakhruddin Ahmed took place in United States and in Bangladesh.

When the interim government backed by army virtually seized power from another caretaker government following weeklong violence and political murders in the country, Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina termed this government as a ‘result of her movement’. Sheikh Hasina attended the oath taking ceremony of the military backed interim government, in an extreme joyous mood, while her political opponent, Bangladesh Nationalist Party refrained from attending.

Most of the Awami League leaders were openly declaring solidarity with the military backed interim government, especially when it started offensives on BNP leaders and sent them to prison on corruption charges. But the mood of Bangladesh Awami League was suddenly smashed, when the same government started booking leaders of this party too on various corruption allegations. Finally, Sheikh Hasina was also sent to prison by the government, which, according to her, was a ‘result of movement’.

Meanwhile, after failing to secure any support in continuing in power, General Moeen had no choice but to go for holding the general election thus handing over power to an elected government. No doubt, Sheikh Hasina was able to seize people’s admiration and once again massive support with the electoral mandate titled ‘Vision 2021’. Political analysts compare such electoral mandate of Sheikh Hasina with that of American president Barack Obama. However, a little more than a year after Hasina was sworn in, many Bangladeshis say things are turning sour, and question whether investment flows will keep rising, as the top political parties continue at loggerheads and there are signs of increasing violent crime, much of it linked to political groups.

Members of the ruling party’s student wing are increasing turning violent and continuing to establish reign of terror in various campuses in Bangladesh. Political analysts commenting on such situation said, rival leaders often use students loyal to them as a ladder to power. They supply them weapons, drugs and support to break the law. This makes the students violent, unruly money and power-mongers.

Students of the ruling party’s political wing are continuing to behave like ‘mini-mafias’.

On February 21 female student was assaulted and sexually harassed by some leaders of the student’s wing of the ruling party inside Dhaka University campus. Such brutality and notoriety took place in presence of thousands of people, who came to pay homage at the memorial of the heroes of language movement. On the same day, Bangladesh Chhatra League activists abducted three college girls from a park in Dhaka named Suhrawardy Udyan. The girls were taken to an isolated place, where they were group raped.

Next day, on February 22, 2010, four cadres of Bangladesh Chhatra League [student front of the ruling party] abducted a female from Chittagong Medical College and raped her. While some other students of Chittagong Medical College nabbed one of the culprits, members of law enforcing agencies quickly came on the spot and finally let the culprit go without any legal actions. It is even reported that, police did not register any case, which was submitted by the raped female.

Meanwhile, instead of addressing such important issues of combating campus terror as well the increasing trend of terror and lawlessness in Bangladesh, the ruling party is busy in taking revenge on its political opponents in various ways. Recently the Prime Minister told in the parliament that, there was no dead body inside the graveyard of former President Ziaur Rahman [founder of BNP] and another lawmaker of her party [and Prime Minister’s cousin] Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim even demanded in the parliament of demolishing the graveyard of former President Zia.

Sheikh Hasina in a very recent step, has decided to change the names of at least 5o institutions in Bangladesh including the Zia International Airport. While commenting on this decision, the Prime Minister told the parliament that such decision has been taken to ‘give a good lesson to BNP’ because it earlier renamed many installations that had been named after her slain father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country's founding leader.

The latest scenario in Bangladesh politics is truly worrisome. No one can say with confidence that the present elected government and the parliament can complete its tenure. The ruling party is desperately trying to give fullest provocation to its political opponents towards demonstrations and movements. The reason behind such attitude of the ruling party is because it has started believing that, its political opponents are gradually becoming weaker and they do not see any risk of not being re-elected for at least three more terms. So, Bangladesh Awami League has set the first five years in giving a ‘good lesson’ to its political opponents, while the next three terms would be used in implementing its political pledges to the nation.

It is even learnt that the culture of holding general election under a neutral caretaker government would be revoked in the parliament. If so, any future election in Bangladesh will be held under the party in power. And, there is no room to have minimum doubt that, ruling parties will always try to do everything in ensuring continuation of its tenure. Naturally, if the future general elections in Bangladesh will be held under the ruling parties, there will be massive violence.