Is Bangladesh in a deadly situation?
“A deadly situation in Bangladesh politics” -- this is the comment of a foreign observer who thinks this situation has a direct link with the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Only a few days ago Begum Khaleda Zia, the BNP chairperson showed her shifting hawkish attitude towards India by offering them an “olive branch”.
This shift surprised many of her supporters. Her softness towards India started when Mr. Pranab Mukherjee the-then Finance Minister of India came to visit Dhaka with many gifts for Khaleda Zia and assured her that India is a friend of Bangladesh not a friend of any particular political party.
This gesture from Mr. Mukherjee created some speculations at that time that India had changed its policy towards Bangladesh and in spite of his special relationship with the Awami League he was closing the gap between India and the BNP. Khaleda Zia also responded to his gesture favourably during her visit to Delhi. Now it seems that the ‘Pranab diplomacy’ has failed. Khaleda Zia also withdrew her concessional offer and returned to her old anti-India stand.
Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is the President of India now. His recent visit to Dhaka was rebuffed by Khaleda Zia by refusing to visit him on a very flimsy excuse.
Now some political observers at home and abroad suspect that Khaleda Zia during her recent Singapore visit met either with some Pakistani and Afghan fundamentalist leaders or the hardline government officials of both the countries. She might have been advised by one or two Middle Eastern countries that are sympathetic to the war criminals of Bangladesh to take a stand along with Jamaat and to save them from the gallows. It was also rumoured in London political circles that Tariq Rahman, her eldest son who is living in London now, communicated with his mother in Singapore and strongly advised her to side with Jamaat to topple the government as he did not believe that India’s present government will treat BNP as they treat Awami League and they would not go against the Awami League.
I came to know from a reliable BNP source that the BNP thinks that Pranab Babu’s visit to Dhaka was mainly to boost the morale of the Awami League government and show an undeclared support for the Shabaghh movement.
Perhaps this angered Begum Khaleda Zia and she joined Jamaat publicly to help to sustain their movement to foil the trial and punishment of the war criminals of 1971. Just after coming from Singapore, before consulting with her political colleagues, she declared that those who were killed in the police firing in different parts of the country when they were in Jamaat’s procession were innocent people and their killing was nothing but genocide.
Immediately she called for a hartal following the two days hartal of Jamaat. This action of the BNP chairperson showed her total solidarity with Jamaat, indicated the revival of their anti-Indian role and made BNP take a complete confrontational role against the government.
So some foreign observers said it is a deadly situation in Bangladesh politics.
Though the huge population of the country is united on the demand of capital punishment for the war criminals but the supporters of these criminals have been trained in terrorist activities for a long time and now with the support of the BNP, the second largest political party of Bangladesh, could create a situation where a mini-civil war would be inevitable. If that happens then the situation of Bangladesh might follow the path of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
If this situation arises it may help the rise of an anti-people third force and at its worst may create a favourable ground for foreign interference also. This is the prediction of some foreign observers and recently one observer expressed his fear that Bangladesh is going to be a battleground of fundamentalist and secularist forces and their present conflict may lead the country towards a prolonged crisis.
This fear is growing in the people’s mind due to the recent disturbance and political development in the country. The police raided the BNP headquarters and arrested some of their prominent leaders (subsequently they were released). Police also claimed that while searching the office they found arms and ammunitions on the premises. These events must have angered Begum Khaleda Zia more and last Wednesday (13th March) she delivered a speech in a mass gathering from the balcony of her office. It was nothing but a war cry.
She termed the recent killings as genocide by police firing and threatened when she will come to power she will form a tribunal to try and punish the Awami League leaders including their No.1. She also declared a hartal for 18 and 19 March if the government does not release the remaining BNP leaders and workers who were arrested during the raid of their office.
The most dangerous part of her speech was against the Shahbagh movement. She ridiculed the movement and asked the Awami League government to stop creating such people’s stage at different parts of the country.
She asked the government to form a caretaker government and immediately to hand over the power to avoid people’s wrath; otherwise she will mobilize the people and overthrow the government. She described the entire Shahbagh movement as atheist move and said the Awami League is mobilizing atheists against Islam. Recently the minorities especially the Hindus have been attacked by Jamaat terrorists and especially in Satkhira and Cox’s Bazar where Jamaat has a stronghold, Hindu families are living amidst insecurity and fear. Begum Zia unashamedly blamed the government for these atrocities on the minorities.
It is true that the government could not arrange adequate protection for the minorities but they are not preaching communal hatred and did not take part in looting and arsoning Hindu properties. Many Hindu families complained that their attackers were armed fundamentalists.
It is clear that the BNP Chairperson is playing with fire forgetting the greater interest and safety of the country. She is not only playing anti-Indian cards but cards of communal politics also. To describe a movement of millions of people as atheist and to use old religious game against people’s movement has exposed the present politics of the BNP.
It may help Jamaat to create more disturbances in the country but it will not help the country’s democratic stability. For this stability the war criminals of 1971 should be properly punished, that is the demand of the people and the country. Mrs. Zia and her party took the stand against people’s demand. To oppose the Awami League and to oppose people are two different things. The future historians of the country may accuse the BNP of treason.
There is a chance that the country may go towards a confrontation with more bloodbath but I am not in agreement with some of the foreign observers that this is a deadly situation like Pakistan or Afghanistan and it may lead to a full-fledged civil war. The favourable national and international situations will help the Awami League government to remain in power and to crush the anarchists in Bangladesh politics.
To confront the Jamaat and BNP Sheikh Hasina showed great restraint and wisdom. She allowed and supported the Shahbagh movement and the movement still remains peaceful against all provocations from Jamaat and BNP. They did not step into their provocative trap and attack any Jamaat procession in spite of the killing of their bloggers and Jamaat’s false propaganda. They did not threaten that they will resist or attack any Jamaat or BNP meeting or procession.
But Jamaat has declared that they will attack Shahbagh’s mass rally in Chittagong. The government took prompt action to foil Jamaat’s conspiracy and the leaders of the people’s movement showed great patience and wisdom by postponing their Chittagong rally.
In crisis management from BDR mutiny to present ‘insurgency’ by Jamaat and BNP, the Hasina government took a policy of not using too much force but containing the terrorism by mass support and the use of police. The military was not called. This proves that the government is confident that they are able to contain the anarchy without using more coercive methods. This government did not use the armed forces to crush terrorism like the Indian government and British government who used the army against the Naxal movement or the IRA terrorism in their countries.
Bangladesh is not a country like Pakistan or Afghanistan. The secular and cultural heritage of Bangladesh and their foundations are very strong. People are religious but not fundamentalists. The present religious and communal approach of the Jamaat and BNP will not appeal to the people’s mind. They have witnessed the use of religion for political games many times in the past.
If the government in the present national and international favourable situation can mobilize the people and help the Shahbagh movement to sustain a few months more along with administrative and organizational vigilance the war cry of the BNP and the subversive activities of the Jamaat will not make any headway but will be defeated by the rejection of the people.
I hope I am not being unrealistically optimistic. I am not a soothsayer also; but my experience as a journalist for the last 50 years is telling me that Bangladesh will never be a Taliban state. In spite of all problems and crises the will of the people for democracy and secularism will prevail and triumph.
This shift surprised many of her supporters. Her softness towards India started when Mr. Pranab Mukherjee the-then Finance Minister of India came to visit Dhaka with many gifts for Khaleda Zia and assured her that India is a friend of Bangladesh not a friend of any particular political party.
This gesture from Mr. Mukherjee created some speculations at that time that India had changed its policy towards Bangladesh and in spite of his special relationship with the Awami League he was closing the gap between India and the BNP. Khaleda Zia also responded to his gesture favourably during her visit to Delhi. Now it seems that the ‘Pranab diplomacy’ has failed. Khaleda Zia also withdrew her concessional offer and returned to her old anti-India stand.
Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is the President of India now. His recent visit to Dhaka was rebuffed by Khaleda Zia by refusing to visit him on a very flimsy excuse.
Now some political observers at home and abroad suspect that Khaleda Zia during her recent Singapore visit met either with some Pakistani and Afghan fundamentalist leaders or the hardline government officials of both the countries. She might have been advised by one or two Middle Eastern countries that are sympathetic to the war criminals of Bangladesh to take a stand along with Jamaat and to save them from the gallows. It was also rumoured in London political circles that Tariq Rahman, her eldest son who is living in London now, communicated with his mother in Singapore and strongly advised her to side with Jamaat to topple the government as he did not believe that India’s present government will treat BNP as they treat Awami League and they would not go against the Awami League.
I came to know from a reliable BNP source that the BNP thinks that Pranab Babu’s visit to Dhaka was mainly to boost the morale of the Awami League government and show an undeclared support for the Shabaghh movement.
Perhaps this angered Begum Khaleda Zia and she joined Jamaat publicly to help to sustain their movement to foil the trial and punishment of the war criminals of 1971. Just after coming from Singapore, before consulting with her political colleagues, she declared that those who were killed in the police firing in different parts of the country when they were in Jamaat’s procession were innocent people and their killing was nothing but genocide.
Immediately she called for a hartal following the two days hartal of Jamaat. This action of the BNP chairperson showed her total solidarity with Jamaat, indicated the revival of their anti-Indian role and made BNP take a complete confrontational role against the government.
So some foreign observers said it is a deadly situation in Bangladesh politics.
Though the huge population of the country is united on the demand of capital punishment for the war criminals but the supporters of these criminals have been trained in terrorist activities for a long time and now with the support of the BNP, the second largest political party of Bangladesh, could create a situation where a mini-civil war would be inevitable. If that happens then the situation of Bangladesh might follow the path of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
If this situation arises it may help the rise of an anti-people third force and at its worst may create a favourable ground for foreign interference also. This is the prediction of some foreign observers and recently one observer expressed his fear that Bangladesh is going to be a battleground of fundamentalist and secularist forces and their present conflict may lead the country towards a prolonged crisis.
This fear is growing in the people’s mind due to the recent disturbance and political development in the country. The police raided the BNP headquarters and arrested some of their prominent leaders (subsequently they were released). Police also claimed that while searching the office they found arms and ammunitions on the premises. These events must have angered Begum Khaleda Zia more and last Wednesday (13th March) she delivered a speech in a mass gathering from the balcony of her office. It was nothing but a war cry.
She termed the recent killings as genocide by police firing and threatened when she will come to power she will form a tribunal to try and punish the Awami League leaders including their No.1. She also declared a hartal for 18 and 19 March if the government does not release the remaining BNP leaders and workers who were arrested during the raid of their office.
The most dangerous part of her speech was against the Shahbagh movement. She ridiculed the movement and asked the Awami League government to stop creating such people’s stage at different parts of the country.
She asked the government to form a caretaker government and immediately to hand over the power to avoid people’s wrath; otherwise she will mobilize the people and overthrow the government. She described the entire Shahbagh movement as atheist move and said the Awami League is mobilizing atheists against Islam. Recently the minorities especially the Hindus have been attacked by Jamaat terrorists and especially in Satkhira and Cox’s Bazar where Jamaat has a stronghold, Hindu families are living amidst insecurity and fear. Begum Zia unashamedly blamed the government for these atrocities on the minorities.
It is true that the government could not arrange adequate protection for the minorities but they are not preaching communal hatred and did not take part in looting and arsoning Hindu properties. Many Hindu families complained that their attackers were armed fundamentalists.
It is clear that the BNP Chairperson is playing with fire forgetting the greater interest and safety of the country. She is not only playing anti-Indian cards but cards of communal politics also. To describe a movement of millions of people as atheist and to use old religious game against people’s movement has exposed the present politics of the BNP.
It may help Jamaat to create more disturbances in the country but it will not help the country’s democratic stability. For this stability the war criminals of 1971 should be properly punished, that is the demand of the people and the country. Mrs. Zia and her party took the stand against people’s demand. To oppose the Awami League and to oppose people are two different things. The future historians of the country may accuse the BNP of treason.
There is a chance that the country may go towards a confrontation with more bloodbath but I am not in agreement with some of the foreign observers that this is a deadly situation like Pakistan or Afghanistan and it may lead to a full-fledged civil war. The favourable national and international situations will help the Awami League government to remain in power and to crush the anarchists in Bangladesh politics.
To confront the Jamaat and BNP Sheikh Hasina showed great restraint and wisdom. She allowed and supported the Shahbagh movement and the movement still remains peaceful against all provocations from Jamaat and BNP. They did not step into their provocative trap and attack any Jamaat procession in spite of the killing of their bloggers and Jamaat’s false propaganda. They did not threaten that they will resist or attack any Jamaat or BNP meeting or procession.
But Jamaat has declared that they will attack Shahbagh’s mass rally in Chittagong. The government took prompt action to foil Jamaat’s conspiracy and the leaders of the people’s movement showed great patience and wisdom by postponing their Chittagong rally.
In crisis management from BDR mutiny to present ‘insurgency’ by Jamaat and BNP, the Hasina government took a policy of not using too much force but containing the terrorism by mass support and the use of police. The military was not called. This proves that the government is confident that they are able to contain the anarchy without using more coercive methods. This government did not use the armed forces to crush terrorism like the Indian government and British government who used the army against the Naxal movement or the IRA terrorism in their countries.
Bangladesh is not a country like Pakistan or Afghanistan. The secular and cultural heritage of Bangladesh and their foundations are very strong. People are religious but not fundamentalists. The present religious and communal approach of the Jamaat and BNP will not appeal to the people’s mind. They have witnessed the use of religion for political games many times in the past.
If the government in the present national and international favourable situation can mobilize the people and help the Shahbagh movement to sustain a few months more along with administrative and organizational vigilance the war cry of the BNP and the subversive activities of the Jamaat will not make any headway but will be defeated by the rejection of the people.
I hope I am not being unrealistically optimistic. I am not a soothsayer also; but my experience as a journalist for the last 50 years is telling me that Bangladesh will never be a Taliban state. In spite of all problems and crises the will of the people for democracy and secularism will prevail and triumph.
Courtesy: The Independent
