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Politicians in Bangladesh heaved a resounding sigh of relief on December 12, as the Caretaker government lifted the ban on political activity. For almost two years they had been under enforced hibernation if not hauled up on charges of corruption. Now at last there was the signal to return to ‘business as usual.’ Five days later the Emergency is to be lifted. On December 29, the country will go to polls.
Elections were to take place on January 22, 2007. But the political parties had plunged the country into mayhem. There were bloody clashes between rival political parties, shut down of business and commerce and total blockage of transportation. Ultimately, with a nudge from the army, Emergency was declared on 11 January 2007 and a caretaker government comprising people with clean hands mostly technocrats was appointed. During their almost two years in office the caretakers did much good work, cleaning the Augean stables. Landmark reforms included separating the judiciary from the executive, empowering the Anti-Corruption Commission and bringing sanity to the election process. Among the salient features of the electoral reforms promulgated in July 2008 was fixing the ceiling for election expenses at taka 15 lakh and a fine of 10 lakh taka for breach. All candidates for the 300 parliamentary seats have to submit answers to a 16-page questionnaire, detailing personal assets and business interests. Attempts were made to break the ladies’ vice like grip on their parties. Failing, both the AL and BNP were pressed to become more transparent and to allow greater levels of internal dissent so the party machinery may not revolve around the “cult-like stature of their leaders” as has been the practice so far. Meanwhile, in order to make “mob takeovers of polling booths and vote-rigging more difficult,” the government is expected to suspend civilian mobile phone signals on the day of election. Most noteworthy achievement of the Caretaker government was the concerted drive against the corrupt. The crackdown was extremely even-handed, sparing nobody. The culprits included many top ranking leaders from all political parties;- Awami League, BNP, and Jamaat-e-Islami. Many were sentenced to various jail terms and a huge amount of cash, they had wrongfully amassed, was recovered. Even former prime ministers, who are also chiefs of their own parties, Khaleda Zia and Hasina Wajed were put behind bars on charges of corruption. Also charged were Khleda’s two sons and Hasina’ nephew. But both ladies are today back in their saddles and calling the shots. Such is politics. However, because in Bangladesh there is no NRO like in Pakistan, the corruption cases against them have not been withdrawn. The history of the 15 years rule alternately by Hasina and Khaleda is a sordid tale of continuous confrontation between the two ladies with disastrous consequences on the country’s economy. In 1990 the two united to topple the dictator Gen. Ershad. But when Khaleda won the elections in 1991 and became prime minister, they fell apart. Since then the gulf only widened, till they would not even speak to each other. In 1994 the Awami League used the controversy over a by-election to fire the first salvo by boycotting the parliament and starting repeated general strikes. It demanded that Khaleda Zia resign and a caretaker government supervise a general election. Failing to bring Khaleda to her knees the opposition resigned en masse and took to the streets with marches, demonstrations, and strikes. In 1996 when Hasina won the elections and became prime minister, she was served her own medicine by Khaleda in ever higher doses. Alleging harassment of her party workers by the police Khaleda walked out of the parliament. For two years she adopted an on again off again policy, alternately returning to the parliament and walking out on various pretexts. Strictly following Hasina’s script the entire opposition parties began to boycott parliament in 1999, staging frequent nationwide general strikes, whose duration rose from 6 days in 1997 to 27 days in 1999. A four-party opposition alliance announced that it would boycott parliamentary by-elections and local government elections unless the government took steps demanded by the opposition to ensure electoral fairness. The government did not yield and the opposition boycotted all elections, from parliamentary by-elections to municipal council and Chittagong Corporation. In 2001 the Awami League (AL) government stepped down after completing its five-year term. But political violence continued to escalate in the run up to the election supervised by a caretaker government. In mid 2001 the two warring ladies pledged to abide by visiting ex-President Jimmy Carter’s proposal to “respect the results of the election, join Parliament win or lose, foreswear the use of hartals (violently enforced strikes) as political tools, and if successful in forming a government allow for a more meaningful role for the opposition in Parliament.” Khaleda’s 4-party alliance won the 2001 elections with a two-thirds majority. International monitoring group declared the elections fair and free. But breaking her pledge to Jimmy Carter, Hasina condemned the election, rejected the results, and boycotted Parliament. From 2002 onwards she repeated what Khaleda had done to her, walking in and out of the Sangshad on various pretexts. In 2005 the AL and its 14-pqrty alliance boycotted the budget session and went back to hartals, marches and transport jams.. In February 2006 Hasina returned to Parliament, demanded early elections and requested significant changes in the electoral and caretaker government systems, including removal of the Chief Election Commissioner and electoral roll verification after “door-to-door” inquiry throughout the country. To mount pressure it resorted to street agitation and strikes, which escalated in ther scope and violence with time. When Khaleda stepped down in October 2006 at the end of her term, the president nominated former Supreme Court Chief Justice K.M. Hasan as Chief Adviser of Caretaker government as required by the Constitution. Hasina opposed the nomination tooth and nail and organized violent protests which often turned bloody. To avoid controversy, Justice Hasan declined the position. And the president himself assumed the role of Chief Adviser to the caretaker government. On January 3, 2007, the Awami League announced it would boycott the January 22 parliamentary elections. The Awami League planned a series of country-wide general strikes and transportation blockades. That’s what invited the emergency and suspended the democratic process for two years. “Now it’s up to Hasina and Zia to make the best of their second chance,” political analysts say. “Hasina has made the right noises about sharing power and pushing toward a more consensus-driven politics offering the opposition certain prominent seats in parliament, such as that of the deputy speaker.” Experts point out that “the need for a functional, democratic government could not be more urgent.” Being among the world’s poorest countries, with soaring inflation and rising food costs making life miserable for the rural poor and urban working classes Bangladesh must be spared the battle-scenes of the past to settle personal vendettas. But whether the two fighting ladies will heed the counsel and learn to accommodate each other despite their political polarization, remains an open question.
S. G. Jilanee is a senior political analyst and the former editor of Southasia Magazine.
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