The curse of interesting times

And like it or not Bangladesh is living in interesting times too. It seems that we are neither short of interesting times not spared the agonies of it. And everything that has gone wrong today in Bangladesh has to do with the way our democracy did or did not function.

We have had democracy in its complete manifestation at least over the last fifteen years, yet one cannot say with any degree of conviction that we have enjoyed the benefits that a democratic dispensation is supposed to provide the people.

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And all that we have witnessed in the past eight weeks in particular, have to do with "upholding the principles of democracy" or "ensuring the voters' rights" or some such imaginative and even poetic phrases that have more to do with upholding the interest of the political parties rather than that of the voters. In fact our miseries are very much the product of the nature of politics in Bangladesh. Our politics today is hostage to several complexities, which with political will we can still do away with.

To start with, the highly visible if little publicised, is the reflection of the mutual animus between the leaders of the two major political parties in our political scene. When the two top leaders are not even willing to acknowledge the presence of the other in a public gathering much less willing to talk to each other, should it surprise us that the major political issues are approached in the same psyche of animosity and distrust?

In fact, it would not be wrong to say that our politics today is really a hostage of the personal relationship of Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina. Why can't they rise above personal consideration, as any leader worth the name should, particularly under the present situation, where the prospect of election within the scheduled time is becoming increasingly remote? And with this uncertainty are many attendant issues that make the future scenario ambiguous and dangerous, particularly from the state security point of view.

The two-in-one Mr Iajuddin Ahmed has made the times even more interesting because of his very inept handling of matters. We do not know what action is being taken under which hat and why. The uncertainty that we have been plunged into with the non-fulfillment of the package deal, which was broached by him in the first place, and it was he that put the spanners in the works of his advisors that he had tasked to see the deal through. In fact he went back on the issue of Mr Zakaria, an issue that had already been resolved. The resignation of four advisors was due not only to his autocratic way of functioning but because of his fickle mind, too.

Being back-seat driven, the chief advisor-cum-president is wittingly or unwittingly using his position to which he has been thrust more by design than accident. He is working in a manner that will ensure that power does not get out of the hands of those that put him there. And that he is not his own man is clear from the way the military was called out, ostensibly in aid of civil power.

Of course it is the president's prerogative to call out the armed forces, but we are not certain whether the objective conditions that demands such a deployment were obtaining when he decided to deploy the military. In the three days that the military have been deployed, we have not seen it employed to quell any violent situation nor has there been a situation that had existed before their deployment that had gone beyond the capability of the law enforcing agencies. Thus the motives can be questioned certainly, and it was precisely this that was the immediate reason for the resignation of the four advisors.

Now that the military is out and they have done very little since then it would be in fitness of things to ensure that the peaceful environment that is so much essential for a free and fair election is ensured with the help of the military. There is disturbing news that a large quantity of small arms and weapons has already come in and there are large stockpiles of the same waiting to be sent inside Bangladesh.

We also know of many known criminals in the pay role of the political parties that were in hibernation, some across the borders, have come in or are waiting to do to take the advantage of the present uncertainty. Therefore, a countrywide arms recovery and netting of the known criminals must be undertaken without delay.

It is important that the deployment of the armed forces is neither used to convey any message to any particular political party nor to chastise it. But in saying this, one could assert with some degree of confidence that the armed forces would not suffer anybody's fool and they would be working strictly in non-partisan and objective manner in these circumstances. They would not be willing to follow the list drawn up with a political bias, while going for the criminals.

Our politics is also, regrettably, hostage to the politics-criminal nexus (more of it in the future). The way convicted criminals have been inducted in the political parties go to reconfirm the unholy link between the two in our country. Although it is not a state unique to Bangladesh only, the space provided to them by legalising their presence has desecrated politics and has kept honest people out of it.

In the midst of all the depressing developments, the only redeeming feature was the sharing of platform by the secretary generals of the BNP and AL provided by the civil society forum while presenting their recommendations on politics and political reforms to the public. It was indeed heartening to notice the wise words flowing from the two leaders, wise words which if implemented would deliver us from the political morass. Because, without political reforms our politics will remain hostage to black money, criminals, muscle power, and corruption.

And till such time that is done, we, unfortunately, will continue to suffer the curse of interesting times.

Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psdc (Retd) is Editor, Defence and Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.