Anti-hartal pact

It is now incumbent on all of us from policy-makers to civil society to the government to the opposition to get together to find some way forward. The fact is that hartals as they exist in Bangladesh are almost non-existent outside our borders.

There are strikes and shutdowns, but the culture of general strikes in which the entire country is brought grinding to a halt is a peculiarly Bangladeshi practice, and not one that flatters us. Hartals are virtually unheard of in the rest of the world, and the hartal culture does as much to discredit us in the eyes of the world as any of the other more high-profile problems we face.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The way forward is for the government to first acknowledge and accept that there is much truth to the opposition's claims that it is not permitted any democratic space in which to express dissent. The opposition must be given its democratic space. The opposition must be permitted to speak in parliament and to hold programmes and rallies and processions freely and without harassment. It will thus have no pretext to call hartals.

For its part, the opposition merely needs to heed the wishes of the people. Public opinion has been built up against hartals, and the opposition should listen to and be guided by this public opinion. Dissent can be expressed in alternative ways such as through human chains and processions and rallies, which would make the same point that hartals do without the destructive element.

During the tenure of the last government, the AL put on the table an anti-hartal deal. It pledged that if the then-opposition agreed not to resort to hartals, then it too would eschew them when in opposition. This offer was, however, rejected by the then opposition. Now, however, it is the BNP that is in power and complaining about the negative impact of hartals. Indeed, even the AL does not contest the fact that hartals do serious damage the economy.

So, our modest proposal is that now is the perfect time for the government and the opposition to revive the deal. If the opposition agrees to halt hartals, the government should reciprocate by pledging that it, too, will refrain from calling hartals if and when in opposition. No single step would do more good for the country -- both in terms of the economy and also in terms of moving towards a more democratic political culture.