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Situation turning fluid in Bangladesh

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury - 6/1/2008

Although the military backed interim government began much awaited ‘dialogue’ with minor political parties in the country, it is greatly anticipated that large political parties such as Bangladesh Awami League [BAL], Bangladesh Nationalist Party [BNP] and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh [JB] may not join such dialogues, keeping their leaders inside prison.

According to press reports, the much-hyped dialogue between the military-controlled administration and political parties began on Thursday in Dhaka with the government looking into options for review of the constitution to bring about qualitative changes in governance and politics.

‘Matters related to review of the constitutional provisions – for possible adoption by the parliament – have been discussed at the meeting’, commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman told a joint press briefing after the maiden meeting of the series with Workers Party of Bangladesh.

‘A national consensus is a must for it’, he added.

The Workers Party [which is a minor factor in Bangladesh politics in terms of its acceptance to the voters], one of the two parties which held talks with the government on the day, however, stressed that any amendment to the constitution must come through an elected parliament. It should not be imposed.

The party also demanded parliamentary elections before any other polls.

On the other hand, the Bikalpadhara Bangladesh [a party basically formed with ousted BNP men] suggested formation of a ‘constitution commission’ with a specific agenda and timeframe on the basis of a consensus among the political parties. Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon and Bikalpadhara Bangladesh president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury led their parties respectively at the dialogues.

Besides the talks with the political parties, the government disclosed its plan to hold dialogues with various professional groups, civil society actors and non-resident Bangladeshis for a smooth transfer of power through fair elections at the end of the year.

On his arrival at the meeting with the Workers Party [WP], the chief adviser announced that he would leave the venue after delivering his speech and requested the WP leaders to continue the dialogue with the his five-member panel, according to meeting sources. The Workers Party leaders protested promptly saying that they should also leave the venue if the chief adviser did so and requested him to stay back and participate in the entire proceedings.

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed then stayed for more than an hour after delivering his speech at the meeting that lasted for more than two hours. In his speech, the head of the government dispelled the confusions over the elections and pledged to hold the polls at any cost by December.

He also assured the WP delegation that the government would not conduct any local polls hampering the national elections. ‘Holding the national elections peacefully and credibly is our prime objective’, the chief adviser was quoted as saying.

At the press briefing, the government and the parties said they had discussed frankly a host of issues at the dialogue and expressed optimism that the crucial national dialogue would produce a positive result through participation of all the political parties.

Workers Party, a component of the Bangladesh Awami League-led alliance, asked the caretaker administration to ensure presence of the BAL president, Sheikh Hasina – now detained in custody on fraud charges – at the dialogue. The party also demanded participation of the coordinator of the alliance and BAL general secretary, Abdul Jalil [who also faces numerous corruption charges and now on bail on parole and taking treatment in Singapore] to be allowed to participate in dialogue.

Workers Party, however, remained silent at the talks about the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia, who is also in jail.

At the talks the WP placed a list of demands including lifting of the state of emergency, withdrawal of conditions on indoor political activities, ensuring trade union rights, halting monitoring of the media by the government agencies, holding of parliamentary elections before other polls and freeing the administration from political influence.

It asked the government to differentiate between the political rights and public order in case the government wanted a ban on strike [hartal] and lockouts. ‘We demand our political rights as we enjoyed in the past’, said the Workers Party president.

The party expressed its reservations about the chief adviser’s proposal to formulate a ‘national charter’ saying that there was only one charter for the country and ‘that is the 1972 constitution’. The party considers that the spirit of such charter [as proposed by the chief adviser] goes against the spirit of the constitution.

The advisers explained that the chief adviser did not mean that.

‘He wants a national consensus…it was a wrong diction’, Hossain Zillur Rahman clarified and said that there should not be any confusion about it.

‘There has been nothing like preparing any constitutional or legal documents’, the adviser said adding that the chief adviser had called for national consensus, for which the interim government would only work as a mediator.

The issue of concentration of power [in the hands of certain institution] by the constitution was discussed at the meeting. It may be taken to the next parliament, but for that there should be a consensus, Hossain Zillur said.

The Bikalpadhara Bangladesh placed a number of demands, including formation of a constitution council, at its meeting with the government in the afternoon.

The party said there should be a balance of power between the president and the prime minister. ‘A final decision should be made in this regard after consulting all the political parties’, said Major [Retired] Abdul Mannan, the secretary general of the party.

The party also proposed four-year tenure for the government instead of the present five years, and a referendum in every two years to solicit popularity. If any government gets less than 50 percent vote in the referendum, it should hand over power to a caretaker administration for elections.

‘It may help avoid destructive political activities like hartal’, said Mahi B Chowdhury, a leader of the party, which also called for a consensus among the political parties about a guideline for democracy to be laid down after the elections.

The parties should agree a consensus, and if they fail, the government would take initiative for such unity, it said.

It asked the government to lift the state of emergency by phases.

The party also asked the government to ensure voters’ security during and after the elections.

Commenting on suggestions of Bikalpadhara Bangladesh, a leading analyst in Dhaka said, “This is a ridiculous proposal to hold referendum in Bangladesh after two years of government tenure and hand over power to a caretaker government. Bangladesh is a poor country and it cannot afford to take the burden to bearing electoral expenditure every alternative year.”

The analyst said “Bangladesh needs to adopt a policy of forming 45-member Government of National Unity. This 45-member group shall be divided into nine sections, each with five participants. Politicians, economists, businessmen, religious leaders, media representatives, former bureaucrats, women & NGO representatives, civil society members and military representatives can become part of that government.”

He further said, “Such government should be allowed to continue at least for next five years, with the goal of achieving economic progress, resolving existing crisis, ensuring level playing field for future election, ending culture of corruption and nepotism, checking rise of religious extremism and terrorism, ensuring rights of religious minorities, ensuring rights of women and above all projecting Bangladesh as a country of infinite possibility to the global community.”

The analyst said, “For a poor country like Bangladesh, election or parliamentary democracy is not the only solution. Each time since independence of the country, country’s economy was screwed by winning forces through corruption and state level fraud, while losing parties always went into destruction, demonstration, strikes etc., thus causing huge loss to the nation. There is at least no sign of saving the nation from such status in near future, if the election is held by December 2008.”

Many of the political pundits are also recommending bringing balance of power between the Prime Minister and the President. For the sake of ensuring better governance, this is equally important.

But, it remains a billion dollar question as to whether, Dr. Fakhruddin’s initiatives in resolving the existing crisis by holding dialogue may finally see the light of sun. Main parties like Bangladesh Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami will surely not put focus on getting their leaders released from prison, before joining the election. But, according to reality, many of these leaders are already facing charges of genuine fraud while some are even already convicted. In this case, possibly it won’t be a good idea for Dr. Fakhruddin’s government to simply bring those corrupts back to politics.

In case, the ongoing dialogue is foiled, what will happen to this nation? Another political uncertainty? Confrontation on streets? Anarchism? In any of the cases, possibly we may get ready to see another ‘Big Surprise’ like 1/11 once again in Bangladesh.