Politics behind bars

The arrests of former Prime Ministers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina have created a fresh crisis in Bangladesh.

in DhakaBNP chairperson Khaleda

IN less than two months, Bangladesh has seen two high-profile arrests of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zias on September 3 and Sheikh Hasinas on July 16. Both are now detained in two separate houses, renamed sub-jails, in the Parliament complex in Dhaka.

The military-backed interim government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, which ordered the arrests, also put behind the bars Khaledas younger son, Arafat Rahman, a controversial businessman. It has so far arrested and jailed 150 high-profile persons on corruption charges.

Deputy Inspector-General of Prisons, Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui, in his routine briefings to the media, said the former Prime Ministers were provided with the same facilities in prison.

Khaleda, the widow of army general-turned-President Ziaur Rahman, was picked up from her Dhaka cantonment residence, the military house that she and her family have been using ever since she entered the political arena following her husbands assassination in 1981.

The joint forces of the army, paramilitary and the police picked up Hasina, one of the two surviving daughters of the countrys slain founder-President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, from her husbands residence in the Dhanmandi residential area in the capital. While charges against Hasina related to extortions and taking bribes from businessmen, the ones against Khaleda were misuse of power and corruption. Their lawyers have termed these charges as conspiratorial and motivated to keep them out of politics.

The distance between the two sub-jails, where the two leaders have been kept confined, is not more than 22 metres. But they cannot see or talk to each other. Anyway, they seldom did that even earlier. Some observers believe that this personal rivalry or the battle of two Begums compounded the nations political crisis; however, many political analysts reject this view as too simplistic. The fundamental crisis the nation is facing has its roots in the birth of the secular-democratic republic of Bangladesh, dismantling former East Pakistan, in 1971.

The two arrests have marked the beginning of a new chapter in Bangladeshs politics. The detentions have pushed the two political parties they head into an unprecedented crisis. Sheikh Hasinas Awami League, which spearheaded the countrys war of independence with Pakistan by upholding the Bengali nations faith in secular values, and Khaleda Zias Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which ruled the country for the major part of its 37-year political existence with military support and exploiting religious sentiments, still dominate national politics.

The interim government, which has been in office for eight months now, was intent on pursuing the minus two formula that is, of sending the two key women politicians out of the country. Its intention is to pursue the reform agenda for democratisation of political organisations by purging the country of corruption and dynastic politics and also by reducing the role of money and muscle in politics. While the reform agenda has been welcomed by the people, the minus two agenda has invited criticism.

However, the governments plan did not work. In May, the government had tried to prevent Hasinas return from the United States where she was on a private visit, but had to relent owing to international pressure. She returned home to a tumultuous welcome but soon found herself charged with corruption. Khaleda Zia, whose tenure prior to the takeover by the interim government was virtually responsible for the imposition of the state of emergency in the country on January 11 (popularly described as 1/11 in Bangladesh), told a Dhaka court on September 3 that, If I had agreed to go abroad, I might not have faced corruption charges. With the two leaders in prison, the governments much-publicised agenda for political reforms should find an easy sailing. But it may not be so easy in reality.

Awami League president

Khaleda Zia is still the chairperson of the BNP. Invoking the party constitution, she expelled the reformist rebel leader and party secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuyan and elected Khandaker Delwar Hossain, a loyalist, to the post. Before going to jail, she also nominated a trusted adviser, retired Brigadier-General A.S.M. Hannan Shah, to look after the party affairs in her absence.

The tussle between reformists and conformists in the BNP had surfaced after the BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami alliances highly controversial plan to manipulate the general elections. The elections, scheduled for January 22, were cancelled by the caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former banker. It was on January 12 that this replaced the one led by titular President Iajuddin Ahmed, a puppet of the BNP. Iajuddin had been the caretaker since October 2006, when Khaledas term came to an end and fresh elections were called.

Khaleda Zia, the two-time Prime Minister, became the party chairperson 25 years ago following the assassination of her husband, Gen. Ziaur Rahman, the founder of the BNP. Her elder son Tarique Rahman is in jail facing extortion charges. Bhuyan, who was a senior Minister in the Khaleda regime, claims that more than a hundred party Members of Parliament are with him in his efforts to reform the party. The factional war may finally result in a split in the BNP, drastically reducing the influence of Khaleda and her family over it.

However, the scenario is not the same in the Awami League. Most of its leaders are perturbed by the equal treatment that the interim government has meted out to Hasina and Khaleda. They had welcomed the new caretaker government as an outcome of our movement.

Though the League was also under the pressure of reformists, it remains united under the stewardship of acting president, Zillur Rahman, a Hasina loyalist; its central committee met for the first time on September 12 to unanimously demand Hasinas unconditional release. The reformists probably sensed the reality, and decided to make a tactical retreat.

The interim government has restored after a six-month ban on all political activities indoor political activities, from September 12, on condition that such activities can be carried out in Dhaka alone. It was Ziaur Rahman who introduced this strange definition of rights in the late 1970s.

The law and information adviser to the government, Mainul Hosein, has explained that the relaxation of the ban on indoor politics is a test for the politicians to prove how responsible they are. Responding to the assertion, New Age wrote in an editorial: While he claimed that the people will now observe the politicians, his assertion that the next step of the government depends on the activities of the politicians makes it clear that it is the interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed, not the people, which will decide whether the politicians have behaved responsibly or not.

The conditional lifting of ban on politics may suit the interim governments plans because full political freedom, it thinks, may not be conducive at this stage. But the political parties feel that this is a half-hearted measure, and demand the lifting of emergency and full political freedom all over the country for a smooth transition to democracy through a credible election.

As per the governments road map for elections, to be held in December 2008, the Election Commission (E.C.) has already begun talks with political parties. But the success of the dialogue depends on the cooperation of the two main political parties. While the Awami League is determined to see its president freed unconditionally from conspiratorial cases, a divided BNP is struggling to win over its political rivals.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, the

There are indications that once convicted by the court, many political heavyweights, including Khaleda and Hasina, may be barred from contesting the elections. While Khaledas options are limited as her top party leadership has been thrown into prison on corruption charges, and the party is on the verge of a split, Hasina, despite her partys strong backing is also not in a vantage position.

Many of her trusted leaders, including party general secretary Abdul Jalil, are in jail. While more cases of corruption against Khaleda are reportedly being processed, a total of seven graft cases are pending against Hasina, including one filed by the Khaleda government. Her sister Rehena, son Joy and daughter Putul, all of whom have been living abroad for many years now, are also facing corruption charges.

Meanwhile, the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and other Islamist groups maintain a clean image. The interim government, as of now, has not found any substantial allegations of political crime and financial corruption against the top leaderships of these parties, a fact which is viewed with a lot of suspicion.

Immensely popular at the beginning, the interim government is pledge-bound to organise a credible election and hand over power to an elected government. But it has mutlipled its agenda. The frontal war it has initiated from an all-out anti-corruption crusade to the difficult task of reforming political parties in a given time frame may be a courageous step but it is difficult and risky.

Independent observers say that the government, even though backed by the military and stringent emergency rules, has alienated not only key political players, but also a section of society. The fear is that it will create a depoliticised society in the process.

However, the interim government is getting support from the U.S.-led West and its allies in the East. Observers feel that without the participation of the two major political parties, the general elections may not be meaningful. A new political party has already emerged supporting the governments agenda, but it lacks a credible political foundation.

In an interview given to a foreign media organisation on September 14, Fakhruddin Ahmed dismissed the notion that the country was placed under a dual rule, and denied any political role of the armed forces in the government. He also said that the reasons for declaring a state of emergency have not all disappeared.