Democracy the best revenge
SHEIKH Hasina, the incumbent prime minister, while in opposition, was rubbed the wrong way by successive governments and driven from pillar to post by them. In a departure from democratic tradition she was contemptuously treated by Khaleda Zia, her arch-rival, during the latter's rule, when, as leader of the opposition, Hasina was denied any role in statecraft.
Her party men and supporters were indiscriminately persecuted by BNP-Jamaat goons. She was routinely scorned by the politicised administration and judiciary. Several attempts were made on her life, the most lethal being the August 21, 2004 grenade attack. Worse still, justice was subverted every time. Even during the immediate past interim government she, was the first among the top leaders to be carted away for detention and unceremoniously dragged about in the name of court attendance.
Anyone in her place would be tempted to take vengeance against the perpetrators. Her well-wishers kept their fingers crossed, hoping that the daughter of Bangabandhu would refrain from those sordid practices. But the naysayers proved right and we are witnessing its ugly manifestation.
Democracy is the best revenge, so the saying goes. Let democracy be the guiding principle for whatever Sheikh Hasina wants to do either to face the bluster of political adversary or parry off evolving hostile situations.
On either fronts she is unfortunately pushed on to the defensive for she didn't let democracy flourish in its own majesty and went by its trite definition of majoritarian rule in the same way the alliance government did before.
No wonder she has been encountering hurdles ever since she took the reins. Nothing seems to be in her grips as yet, whether dousing the flame of public discontent over myriad civic problems, or allaying the angst of a sullen armed forces over Pilkhana carnage or creating dynamism in an administration subjected to creeping politicisation.
With their confidence shaken, the bureaucracy is engaged in a balancing game with regard to their new masters for sheer survival, and its members under cloud are obviously marking their time while the blessed ones are having their field day.
Yes, Sheikh Hasina has reason to be haunted by an invisible bullet or grenade targeted at her and to beef up her security. Indeed, the prime ministerial security is a state responsibility, but the best security lies with a society she can, with her overwhelming mandate, build, by stamping out all the roots of insecurities once and for all.
In the meantime, the revelations emanating from the media outlets are dismal and depressing. The restive apparatchiks in the civil bureaucracy and military establishments do not bode well for stabilising the uneasy situation obtaining in the country and the national unity requiled to face it.
Every so often, when the country is rocked by internal crises, external players swing into action, huddling with the protagonists and seemingly brokering a solution. This time around, no such solution is in sight.
Yet to gloat over deliberate wrong-doing and the use of deceit as a favoured political tactic does not produce results every time. Neither the portrayal of what the government does as a paragon of excellence, a citadel of probity, and font of moral and intellectual parity holds good permanently.
As regards politicising the military, the syndrome of which is quite visible, the AL dispensation may be wasting its breath. It's like catching a tiger by the tail -- brave but foolhardy. Soldiers are a fraternity per se and their professional camaraderie transcends the limits of time and space -- a phenomenon that was clearly manifested in the emotional outburst in the wake of Pilkhana tragedy.
Their civilian counterparts might be happy with crumbs thrown before them, but the soldier true to his salt would not. He would rather stand by the vow he made before being baptised for soldiering. More so, when our military happens to be a relatively more enlightened lot, dedicated to the professional cause they have vowed to uphold even at the peril of their lives. The armed forces are the nation's last stand, which ought not be fiddled with. Democratic principles alone, and not even pragmatic guile can guide us out of the mire.
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