Bangladesh goes the Pak way

POLITICAL CRISIS IN Bangladesh seems to be deepening with the affluence fluctuating from one party to the other. After favouring Khalida Zia and Sheikh Hasina, fortune is scampering for the military. Earlier, five days after the declaration of emergency, elections due for January 22, got cancelled by the then President Iajuddin Ahmed. Repudiated by the opposition for his biasness towards Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Fakhruddin Ahmed, with his resignation, made way for military involvement in the preparation of the country for elections acceptable to Bangladeshis and the international community.

A new, though temporary, arrangement for Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former World Bank official, was found. This administrator is committed to an unwritten five- point agenda drawn up by the military. The agenda includes cleaning up of the various systems like the judiciary and the bureaucracy that will help provide military a smooth transition.

Yet, behind the deployment of troops to establish order, basic rights have been recalled. For example, political and trade union activities have been banned, and media censorship has been imposed. For time being it cannot be predicted as how long it will last.. It is this reason that some observers feel that Army Generals are behind the present brittle peace in Bangladesh. This leaves a question whether the Army will sideline both Khalida Zia and Sheikh Hasina, like General Musharraf did eight years ago with Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto after the Coup.

In its history of about 36 years, Bangladesh has seen genocide, famine, flood, endless poverty and military dictatorship, which continued until 1991. So, military rule seems to be a possible way out of this impasse where two of the major parties are still confused about their future course of action. The12,000 soldiers that the Bangladesh Army has on UN peacekeeping missions under profitable UN contracts can however limit the powers exercised by Bangladesh’s army.