A nation's decay

General elections in Bangladesh are just round the corner, but how fair and free they will be remains to be seen.

HAROON HABIB in Dhaka

BANGLADESH will go to the polls once again in January 2007. The ruling coalition of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will hand over power to a non-party caretaker government in October when it completes its five-year tenure. The caretaker government will be entrusted with the task of electing a new Parliament.

The warm-up to the elections is already visible, with the 14-party Opposition alliance led by the Awami League demanding major reforms in the caretaker government system as a pre-condition for joining the poll process. The Opposition feels that if the reforms are not in place, the ruling coalition will `engineer' an electoral victory.

Major Western powers have described the coming polls as the "most crucial" ever. Their interest in the polls is not surprising, considering the substantive socio-political changes Bangladesh has undergone during last four and a half years. The phenomenal inroads that `political Islam', supported by a well-planned `Islamist militancy', have made is cause for worry for them.

The ruling alliance initially opposed the reforms proposals, just as it had opposed the caretaker government system when it was mooted in 1996. But later, the government initiated an indirect negotiation, through correspondence, with the Awami League. But the process faced a deadlock when the Opposition refused to negotiate with the government team since it included representatives from the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami. The Opposition alliance, known for its staunch `pro-liberation' stance, said that it would not sit with `war criminals' and `patrons' of the Islamist militancy in the country.

As a result, the fate of the proposed reforms to the caretaker government system and the Election Commission, which the Opposition parties and civil society believe have been ` grossly politicised' by the Khaleda government, hangs in the balance.

Some other developments have triggered rumours too. The country's President, Prof. Iajuddin Ahmed, suddenly took ill and was later flown to Singapore where he underwent heart surgery. Parliament Speaker Jamiruddin Sircer was summoned from London, where he was taking medical treatment, to fill up the constitutional void.

Speculations about the President's sudden illness became strong after the Leader of the Opposition, Sheikh Hasina, alleged that the Prime Minister herself wanted to push the President out in order to assume the presidency and rig the elections. The President has an all-powerful role during the tenure of the caretaker government, when he is empowered with the vital Defence portfolio.

In a curious turn of events, the Prime Minister's powerful Parliamentary Affairs Adviser, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, who belongs to the hardliner lobby in the party, soon came out with a suggestion that the `crisis' facing the country could be averted only by switching over to the presidential system. However, the government requires a majority in Parliament to bring a constitutional amendment to this effect.

In another development, the country's Supreme Court on May 23 unanimously rejected the Election Commission's appeal to validate its new voters list, which was prepared ignoring an earlier High Court order. The court order has shaken the legal standing of the Chief Election Commissioner, Justice M.A. Aziz, and his two Commissioners - who are seen by the Opposition parties and the public as `pro-government elements'.

The apex court directed the Commission to prepare the voters list based on the electoral roll made in 2000. The controversial new voters list, in which over three-crore new voters, including non-Bengali `stranded Pakistanis', were enrolled, was found to be fraudulent; independent media investigations had proved that it was made to suit the political interests of the ruling coterie. The CEC and the two Commissioners are now facing charges of contempt of court and also of `wasting' Taka 64 crores from the national exchequer to prepare the electoral roll.

The CEC and the Commissioners did not deem it necessary to resign after the Supreme Court criticised their style of functioning. They stayed on, tacitly supported by the government, leading to another fear - whether credible elections can be held under the present E.C.

The Opposition alliance, which earlier had declared that they would not participate in the elections unless electoral reforms were carried out, now added a new clause - no election under the present CEC. The Opposition allegations got further strengthened when the media reported that over a hundred `BNP-Jamaat cadre', including some front-ranking students leaders, were appointed as Election Officers by the CEC.

The Supreme Court Bar Association has urged the President to initiate a reference with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for the removal of the CEC and the two ECs. Incidentally, the CEC, who was a member of the ruling BNP, is also a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court.

The political volatility in the country is worsened by a labour unrest in the industrial sector. A strike in the garment industry had resulted in arson and destruction of over 200 factories in late May. The Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) blamed the rioting as a `conspiracy' to destroy Bangladesh's garment sector, a major foreign exchange earner.

However, leaders of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP), the central coordinating council of industrial workers, argued that the massive rioting in the garments sector was an outburst against the exploitation and repression of workers by the owners and the latter's neglect of their grievances for a long time.

Ironically, Bangladesh, born 35 years ago following a major war, may be still suffering from a Pakistani legacy - of finding solutions for political crises through extra-constitutional means.

However, the United States has said that the people of Bangladesh would reject any military takeover or extra-constitutional rule and would work to protect their democracy. Oscar DeSoto, a senior State Department official, told Bangladeshi journalists during a website chat: "While no one can forecast what may or may not happen in Bangladesh, I can say in general that whenever democracy comes under threat, the U.S. can opt to use any number of tools, including diplomatic measures at multilateral organisations such as the U.N. or in bilateral relations, to express its concern about that threat."

But observers feel that despite the `war on terror' against militant Islamists worldwide, the U.S. attitude towards Bangladesh is not yet clear. The U.S. might adopt the strategy it has adopted towards Pakistan, they fear.

Asked what kind of government the U.S. wanted to see in Bangladesh after the next elections, in the wake of so much concern about extremism and corruption, DeSoto said: "It is up to Bangladeshis to decide.... "

On religious extremism, the U.S. envoy appreciated the capture of top Jamaat'ul Mujahideen (JMB) leaders and their trial as positive developments but said more work remained to be done to identify and try, on specific evidences, all those persons or parties who supported and financed the terror network. The Khaleda Zia government had caught all seven members of the JMB's Majlishe-e-Shura (its highest policy-making body). The militant outfit's two kingpins Shaikh Abdur Rahman and Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai - were handed the death sentence by a lower court for killing two Judges.

Since the 2001 elections, the country has been witnessing a new phase of terror: an all-out aggression against the nation's independence spirit and history. Anti-social elements have since then unleashed a series of violent attacks on main Opposition party leaders and activists, religious and ethnic minority groups. The previous Awami League government had closed down many training camps of Islamic militants. But with the arrival of the caretaker government in August 2001, and later of the BNP-led government, the combined strength of the `anti-liberation forces' have ruled the roost.

The BNP-Jamaat coalition, which rode to power on the crest of anti-terrorism and anti-corruption slogans, has turned out to be the most corrupt and the most violent government in the country's history. Extremism, religious bigotry and irrational campaign have since then grown to disproportionateheights. Investigations are mere eyewash, charge-sheets do not mention the real killers, arrested persons are often victims or political dissidents rather than the culprits.

It is no wonder then that Transparency International, a non-profit organisation dedicated to combating corruption, has rated Bangladesh, for the fourth time in a row, as the number one corrupt country in the world.