Under the aegis of military, history is going to repeat by engendering yet a new political party in Bangladesh by Dr. Shabbir Ahmed

Under the aegis of military, history is going to repeat by engendering yet a new political party in Bangladesh

Published on June 17, 2007

The astute observer of Bangladesh politics please note down what the present interim government is saying to appease the public. The chief of the caretaker government, Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, has been repeatedly saying that the election will be held as soon as possible for handing over power to the elected representatives. Whenever any foreign delegate meets Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, he expresses his opinion about the upcoming election as if it is his prime job. However, his cabinet member Mr. Mainul Hosein gives a totally contradictory indication about the holding of the parliamentary election. In fact, his comments indicate that the roadmap to election is not so important. To him, the roadmap to democracy is more important. It is rather difficult to fathom out how the roadmap to democracy will be established without having a free and fair election as early as possible. Be that as it may, the government in general and the election commission in particular says that they need eighteen months to hold the election. As it appear from the current situation the government needs eighteen or so months for holding the free and fair election. With the passage of time, it is becoming increasingly clear that the present �neutral government� wants to implement their agenda prior to the holding of the election.

The recent arrest of Mr. Jalil indicates that the government wants to squeeze Awami League (AL) along with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to gradually implement its �minus two� solutions. Under the �minus two solution,� the government not only wants to eliminate the top two leaders but the two top parties out of power in the next election. The general perception is that the political rhetoric of Brig. (retd) Hannan Shah of BNP and Mr. Jalil of AL was the reason for their fall from grace and eventual arrest. The government does not want to tolerate any political statement/rhetoric of any existing parties at this time before they see the party of their choice gets organized and take a good shape to win it all in the upcoming election. Because of the brilliant reporting of the private TV channel reporters, we could watch how the party under the blessings of the government is taking a shape gradually. The founders of the new party are holding meetings in restaurants and talking to the media without getting into any trouble whatsoever even though the indoor political activities are banned under the emergency rule.

As has been reported in many newspapers, the new party or parties will be formed, which will be transformed into a political front and most likely the front will become a party under the blessings of the all-knowing caretaker advisors including the chief advisor Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. This is nothing new to the people of Bangladesh and Pakistan .

Lest we forget, the history of a few countries in this part of the world is replete with duplicities by ambitious men in uniform. Gen. Ayub Khan, Gen. Ziaul Huq, Gen. Musharraf, Gen. Ziaur Rahman, and Gen. Ershad did the same thing. They formed parties and imposed it through a top-down process. The sunglass-clad military dictator Ziaur Rahman beats all other military men in this vile game. After taking over power through coup and counter coup he said initially that he had no desire for politics. His only job was to hold a free and fair election. Then under his blessings, various parties and fronts were formed, which were finally transformed into BNP, a combination of pro-Chinese and pro-Pakistani leaders who were looking for opportunities under the blessings of the government run by the Military Bureaucracy Alliance (MBA). At this time, the government is giving blessings indirectly and/or directly to the future party of their choice. So far, the parties that were formed by the snobbish elites in the past with the blessings of the special quarters did not bring anything good for the country.

History repeats itself. The present political stand-off, conspiracies, and chaos are the results of those elite conspirators, who formed the pet political parties by making �politics difficult� not for the opportunists but for the real politicians. In fact, the political opportunists and the conspirators get the scope of their lifetime whenever the politics in Bangladesh becomes chaotic. They try to fish in troubled water. For example, Mr. Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi is now blatantly taking the opportunity for yet another time to create a new party. In the past, he was with AL . From AL , he shook hands with Gen. Osmani and formed Janata Paty. Later, he conspired against Gen. Osmani and shook hands with Ziaur Rahman and took part in the formation of BNP. Before joining military dictator Gen. Zia, he was a high ranking leader in Janata party (if I recall correctly the name of the party) formed by Gen. Osmani. At the present time, the same old Mr. Qureshi has become active one more time as we observe. How can he miss the opportunity again to form a party with the blessings of the powerful quarter?

Many people of Bangladesh in general and many expatriate in particular are very skeptic and disappointed by the mischievous steps taken by Dr. Fakhruddin�s government most likely under the goading of the powerful quarter. They are allowing political activities of the future parties (which will likely become a front and then will metamorphose into a party of the political opportunists) of their choice but arresting any other politicians, who are demanding for political activities to the government. One thing is notably observed by the cautious analysts on the activities of the present government of Bangladesh is that they are not harassing and/or criticizing the fundamentalist parties such as Jammat-i-Islami and Islamic Unity Council, which propagated Islamic terrorism and militancy throughout Bangladesh.

By marginalizing the established political parties, the present government will eventually form a party that they will endorse. The existing big parties will be weakened and the new party will come onto the surface. Most likely, the new party will get to the power without any grassroots level support. In the mean time, the fundamentalist parties like Jamaat-i-Islami will be left to grow even more with their existing political strengths along with their underground (such as Horkatul Jihad, Jadid Al-Qaeda, etc.) and over ground parties such as Islami Unity Council, Katme Nobuwat, etc.

Under this dire backdrop what is the future of the two dominant parties? The secularist and quasi-secularist parties will become busy to protect themselves against the palace intrigue of the military-backed government. As this happens it will create an opportunity of lifetime for the fundamentalist parties such as Jamaat-i-Islami and other similar religious parties to gain strength. This is the history of the political game in the militarily ruled countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Indonesia. I wish someone could prove me wrong but the present rise of the Islamic terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists, and Islamic extremists is the result of the �minus two� solution in Pakistan. Is the present caretaker government of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed taking Bangladesh in this direction following Pakistani model? It is my understanding that Bangladesh with a great socio-political-economic potential will be ruined by the game-plan of Dr. Fakhruddin�s government backed by the military. I wish someone could prove me wrong by historical data and by intuition.

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Dr. Shabbir Ahmed, a research engineer and political observer, writes from Jacksonville, Florida, USA

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