Dear SCBites:
The following commentary on the present political deadlock
in Bangladesh might be of interest to some of you. Although
this piece was printed in the Daily Star some two weeks ago,
the content is still very relevant.
Mohammad Jahirul Quayum
e-mail: quayum@lse.ac.uk
29 Jan 96
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THE WOLVES ARE SMILING
By Mahfuz Anam
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Seldom, if ever, has so much damage been done, by so few
(paraphrasing Churchill's famous comment on RAF man). A
handful of people in the ruling and the opposition parties
have held this country, and its vast multitude of poor
people, hostage in a blind and reckless ambition to retain,
(on one side) or to capture (on the other) political power
in a shameful disregard of national interest. Whatever
general interest there was in the political tug of war over
the last two years, practically crippling our political and
social life, there never was, even a remote desire that this
conflict should jeopardize our national election.
What we find infuriating is not only the fact that these
handful of people are playing with the future of our country
and that of each of us, but also the casual way in which
this catastrophe was brought about. One side said that,"Come
to talk first, and we will discuss everything". The other
side said,"Fix an agenda first, then we will come to talks".
On this hair splitting difference months and months of
valuable time was lost. Would heaven have fallen if the BNP
did give an "agenda" for talks. Similarly, what would have
happened if the opposition did go for talks without an
"agenda". They could have always walked out (something for
which they have a lot of practice) if such talks were not
fruitful. Wouldn't both such options been a thousand times
better than where we have now landed ourselves into.
Whatever may have been their respective positions at first,
when the two sides finally parted away, the differences were
reduced to a minimum. It got stuck in whether or not the
so-called 'chief of the so-called Advisory council should or
should not have executive power. In a five plus five
configuration, and when a consensus was needed for a
decision, what earth shattering measure the President could
or could not take, which made the two side risk everything,
throw the election to the wolves.
It is doubtful whether Begum Zia really weighed the pros and
cons of her decision to for a one-plus-fringe party
elections. If she goes through with it, as she seems
determined to, then she will have thrown to the winds the
most important element of her unquestioned prestige- the
fact that she was elected in a universally participated
elections. After 21st February '96 she will, at best appear
as the winner of a controversial election. A laurel far
removed from the one she enjoyed for the last five years.
The ruling party always worked on the assumption that the
opposition did not really want to participate in the
elections. Thus every new demand of the opposition was one
more proof of its forgone conclusion that AL, JP and Jamaat
would ultimately not come to the palls. The genuine
suspicion of the opposition parties about the fairness of
the polls, and all its preparatory procedures did not make
any impression on the minds of the BNP stalwarts.
Similarly the opposition parties had come to their own
conclusion that BNP would never hold a free and fair
election as it is too corrupt to permit it.
However illogical or contrary to proof these views may have
been, leaders on both sides operated as if their suspicion
have been proven beyond all doubts. It is our view that at
the very end the government party did try very seriously to
have a rapprochement But by then it was too let, and the
opposition parties had concluded that they could come to the
polls only if it were held sometimes in March or April. Thus
in addition to the issue of what type of government was to
oversee the elections, a second demand of postponement of
elections beyond the constitutional limit, made an
understanding between the two sides all but impossible.
We deserved to have been celebrating today: celebrating the
fact that proving all the skeptics wrong, we were about to
hold our second election under a democratic system. We would
have been celebrating the strengthening of our democratic
institutions. Most importantly we would have been
celebrating the fact of making and unmaking, once again, our
own government. Through elections, we, the people, would
have been asserting ourselves as the ultimate 'Boss', with
all our leaders paying homage to the'people'as the source of
all democratic power.
Instead of celebrating, we are waiting with trepidation as
to what will happen tomorrow and the day after. We are
afraid that the coming elections, instead of being an
exercise of 'people power', may become an exercise of
demonstrating 'mastan power'.
After having sacrificed so many lives for liberating our
country, after having fought so many battles to defeat
autocracy, and after having worked so very hard to bring
some semblance to respectability to us as a nation WE
DESERVED BETTER.
(Mr. M Anam is the editor of the Daily Star)