01-13-2007, 03:34 PM
[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Bangladesh</span></b>[/center]
[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>State of emergency</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]
[center]<b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Hope amid the murk of Bangladeshi politics</span></b>[/center]
IAJUDDIN AHMED, Bangladeshâs president, has stood down as head of a caretaker administration, postponed the election it was due to oversee on January 22nd, and handed over to Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former head of the central government. The president also declared a state of emergency, involving the deployment of thousands of soldiers with broad powers of arrest, press censorship and a one-off night-time curfew in some 60 cities and towns in the country of more than 140m people.
A new interim government will now have 120 days to prepare free and fair polls. The president has yielded to weeks of pressure on the streets organised by an alliance of political parties, and to foreign concern. The political system has broken down. The mechanism devised to ensure its continuity became the cause of its collapse. This was the âneutralâ caretaker administration that takes over for three months after every five-year parliamentary term to oversee elections. One of Bangladeshâs two main political parties, the Awami League, and its allies, have always alleged that the one that took over last October was far from neutral.
The League led weeks of general strikes and often violent protests calling for electoral reform or the postponement of the election. Dozens of people have been killed, and hundreds injured. The League argued that, in becoming head of the interim administration, the president had flouted the constitution. It accused the Election Commission of partiality, and claimed the electoral roll was stuffed with millions of ghost votersâa claim backed by foreign observers.
On January 3rd the League announced that it would boycott the election. Without it, the poll would be meaningless. Since the toppling of a military ruler in 1990, power has alternated between the BNP and the League and the two women, the âbegumsâ, leading themâKhaleda Zia, the outgoing BNP prime minister, and the Leagueâs Sheikh Hasina Wajed.
The origins of the crisis lie in the winner-takes-all mentality with which both big parties have fought elections, and in the deep personal antipathy of their two leaders. Most blame must lie with the BNP, which has indeed sabotaged free and fair elections. But the League has been all too willing to air its grievances on the streets.
Just before the president declared the state of emergency, two important international bodies, in effect, threw their weight behind the Leagueâs call for a postponement of the election. The United Nations said the political crisis had âseverely jeopardised the legitimacy of the electoral processâ and that it was withdrawing all technical support. The European Union said it would withdraw its observer mission, because the conditions for credible and meaningful elections did not exist.
<b>The only groups that stood to benefit from the stand-off were Islamic extremists and soldiers. Bangladesh, a traditionally tolerant and moderate Muslim country, <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>has nonetheless seen in recent years the growth of a small but violent fundamentalist tendency. It has grown in the vacuum left by the failure of mainstream politics. The army, exasperated by the messiness of civilian politics, may hanker for the certainties and privileges of military rule. But the UN hinted that one of those perks-Bangladeshâs extensive role in UN peacekeeping operations-might be in jeopardy if the army took political sides.</span></b>
That may make the army think twice about staging a full-blooded coup, though Mr Ahmed could not have acted without its tacit backing. The Awami League has welcomed the presidentâs decision to meet some of its demands. The BNP-led coalition that formed the previous government, however, boycotted Mr Ahmedâs swearing-in ceremony. Stability depends on persuading the two big parties to agree to submit to an electoral process. The president has made a start in establishing the conditions for this to happen. But no one ever lost money betting on the âtwo begumsâ ability to bicker.
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->