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BANGLADESH: Long Break From Party Politics

Analysis by Farid Ahmed

DHAKA, Apr 16 2007 (IPS) - While the head of the military-backed interim government in Bangladesh has announced that rescheduled polls may be held only by the end of next year, he has offered no timetable for a return to party politics and democracy in this country that is home to world’s third largest Muslim population.

Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former World Bank official and chief of the three-month-old interim government, who announced the delay last week, has the backing of the army in a purusing meanwhile a relentless pursuit of politicians alleged to have amassed large fortunes through bribery, graft and corruption.

Ahmed has made it clear that he would deal evenly when it comes to booking allegedly corrupt politicians belonging to the two main parties that have ruled the country alternatively over the last 15 years – the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) of Begum Khaleda Zia and the Awami League of Sheikh Hasina Wajed.

He has also shown that he is prepared to deal firmly with Islamic militants. On Mar. 30, six militant leaders charged with murdering two judges in November 2005 and masterminding serial bombings across the country were sent to the gallows. Those hanged included Shaikh Abdur Rahman, leader of the banned Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and his deputy Siddiqul Islam alias ‘Bangla Bhai’.

Many blame the rise of fundamentalism in Bangladesh on the bitter struggle for supremacy between the right-wing BNP, which is backed by fundamentalist parties, and the ‘left-of-centre’ Awami League. The fact that half of its 144 million people live on less than one US dollar a day is also attributed to the intense political rivalry which has kept the development agenda on the backburner.

One reason cited for the long delay in holding elections, originally scheduled for Jan. 22, was the need to revise the electoral rolls which became an issue after the Awami League accused the BNP of stuffing voters’ lists with bogus names with the support of election officials appointed by the BNP while in power.

Earlier this month, a newly constituted Election Commission said it would need at least 18 months to revise the electoral rolls and issue identity cards to voters. There is also no indication as to when the state of emergency imposed on Jan. 11 by President Iajuddin Ahmed would be lifted so as to allow political activity.

Emergency was imposed on the country partly to control weeks of street violence between the supporters of the two main political parties and their allies that was worsening as voting day on Jan. 22 approached.

After being sworn in as chief of the interim government on Jan.12, Fakhruddin Ahmed lost no time in announcing stern action against people allegedly involved in corruption, criminal activity, illegal possession of public properties and amassing wealth with no known source. A crackdown over the last three months has netted nearly 130,000 people, including scores of former lawmakers and ministers.

“The politicians in Bangladesh have taken a backseat as the military-backed interim government continues its process of purging politics of corruption under a state of emergency,” said a political analyst who did not want to be quoted by name. The popularity of the crackdown, he said, could be gauged from the fact that there were no street protests even after one of the two ‘strong ladies’ of Bangladesh politics was slapped with bribery and murder charges while the son of the other has landed in jail on corruption charges.

On Mar. 8, army-led joint forces arrested Khaleda Zia’s eldest son Tarique Rahman, senior joint-secretary general of BNP and eldest son of Khaleda Zia, who demitted office as prime minister in October. He was implicated in a number of extortion cases.

Also, an executive of a private power company on Apr. 9 lodged a case against Sheikh Hasina, accusing her of extorting over 30 million taka (434,782 US dollars) from him about nine years ago when she was the prime minister.

Last week, the police submitted charge-sheets to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Dhaka against a number of senior political leaders, including Sheikh Hasina, for alleged involvement in six murders that took place during street agitations on Oct. 28, 2006, the day Khaleda Zia ended her five-year term in the government.

Sheikh Hasina, who is now on a private visit to the United States, has been quoted in the media as saying she would return to face the charges against her. The charges came a week after she criticised the interim government as “undemocratic and unconstitutional” and demanded that the polls be held in June.

The people have welcomed the government’s move as they witnessed abuse of power by the politicians and saw their country on top of the corruption index prepared by the Berlin-based global corruption watchdog Transparency International for five years in a row.

By the time the state of emergency was declared in January the public had also become fed up with the constant bickering and street-fighting between the two political parties.

“The interim government has won the confidence of the people for their immediate drive against corruption, but if this government continues for an unlimited period it may lose the people’s support,” Anu Muhammad, a professor of economics of Jahangirnagar University, told IPS in Dhaka.

He appreciated the government’s move for the electoral law reforms. “It was needed and many political parties also demanded the reforms,” he said. But, he feared that a prolonged sate of emergency might bring an adverse impact on the economy.

“I think the political leaders who failed over the last 15 years to deliver democracy should take the responsibility for their failure and allow the interim government to do whatever time they need to complete the task of making politics free from evil influences,” said Ataur Rahman, a professor of political science at Dhaka University.

But a section of politicians and civil society members feels that the country should not be run under a state of emergency for too long a period.

Another Dhaka University academic, who asked not to be named, said the country’s history of being ruled by military regimes – both as part of Pakistan and after the country became independent in 1971 following a civil war û indicated a tendency which needed to be resisted.

But army chief Moeen U. Ahmed, in a recent speech at a conference of the political science association in Dhaka, said the army had no intention of taking power but Bangladesh would have to ‘’construct its own brand of democracy.”