Discarding Deadly Politics
By Nizam Ahmad
Sep 2, 2004
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angladesh’s violent political history is well known. The people here are peaceful but the politicians of the country are not. Military rule or one-party dictatorships have been replaced in favor of outright anarchy and lawlessness, perpetuated by political leaders in the name of democracy.Violence has become as destructive as natural disasters for the citizens of Bangladesh. There is, however, a big difference in how civil society reacts to deadly politics. When natural disasters, or brutal killings strike poor, rural areas there is a mild reaction from the elites. Reactions and concerns turn severe, however, if the capital city is threatened with flood or a top politician or an intellectual is, unfortunately, bombed to death. Only a few months’ back nearly 400 ferry passengers perished but the media, the administration, and the welfare NGOs showed little concern. Five hundred more perished during this year’s flood, which seemed to be an acceptable number for those who govern the country. The Prime Minister said that “none died of starvation” during the floods, as if a death caused by diarrhea or drowning, due to poor evacuation logistics in a country prone to natural disasters, is not a fatality, and not the fault of her government.Floods are not escapable but certainly the damage and devastation they cause can be minimized and contained. Flood management calls for massive investments. Billions are lost due to recurrent floods, impoverishing the masses but disaster management programs remain grossly under-funded due to corruption.For man-made disasters, reactions are embarrassingly flaccid as well. If those affected or dead are from the poorer sections of the country, reactions are mild and hastily forgotten. Nobody talks of flying a rickshaw-puller abroad for better treatment, unless it is for public relations reasons. But, when a top politician or whoever from the elite class is the victim, hell breaks lose.In August, after grenade blasts killed more than 18 opposition activists, former Prime Minister and current opposition leader Sheikh Hasina, demanded that Prime Minister Begum Zia quit the government. Former Awami Prime Minister Hasina called for Prime Minster Zia to quit and allow her to sit in the government. This would be a fine exchange but only if former Prime Minister Hasina’s sitting would end her brand of lawlessness, corruption, favoritism and the bitter division between the so-called anti-liberation and pro-liberation forces in the country that she has successfully created. We have had hundreds of hartals [forceful strikes] that have caused the burning of cars and buses, business losses and a myriad of injuries and fatalities. People lose by these shutdowns but the politicians gain in their power game. Politicians, it seems, derive pleasure from destroying lives and properties of others not involved in their politics. It is depressing that Sheikh Hasina, with her rich political lineage, is one of these kinds of politicians and trapped in it.Sheikh Hasina has never stopped accusing the Bangladesh National Party [BNP] for killing 24,000 Awami activists in a bid to wipe out her party. Often her speeches regarding the BNP are venomous and full of rhetoric. After a bloody incident in Chittagong, she publicly stated, “the Awamis would retaliate and kill ten to revenge the death of one.”Furthermore, she often asks her supporters to gather details of their opponents in order to keep tabs on them, and to record important information. This implies that if and when Awami League is in power, she would persecute her opponents with the aid of state forces. Additionally, she is constantly dividing the country into pro and anti liberation forces. Her hate-filled comments encourage the violence of activists going on a rampage, burning and destroying whatever is in front of them.While Sheikh Hasina is accusing her chief opponent of violence what is she, or her would-be-government, offering Bangladesh? She offers absolutely nothing that can lead to peace and a prosperous future. She keeps on harping on one tune - of ousting this government but the true solution to Bangladesh’s problems lay in superior, thoughtful and peaceful politics.She irresponsibly organizes public meetings without adequate security, even after claiming that 24,000 members of her party were killed by BNP. If that is correct, then thousands of Awamis are always at high risk. She takes no care to protect her supporters or the leaders attending public gatherings. Huge money is spent during the elections by her party on candidates, and corrupt activities. Why some of that cannot be spent on security, not just for her, but for members and the lesser ones as well, she will not say.Sheikh Hasina’s policy of dividing the country between pro and anti liberation forces is worse than the British imperial’s 200 year policy of dividing Hindus and Muslims to rule colonial India. Between 1996 and 2000, her government tried everything to divide the court officials as well. Shamelessly, British trained lawyers, practicing in Bangladesh bars, tow her hate-filled political line instead of standing tall to establish the sovereignty of the courts and ensure justice to the common man instead of just the elite. They even contest bar association elections along party lines, a strategy that is damaging for an independent judiciary. Such divisions have penetrated the business community, state bureaucracy and other segments of the country by willful design of the Awami leadership, backed by the left leaning intellectuals and politicians.Hasina should realize that her methods, along with those of other heavyweights, have only brought death and destruction in Bangladesh. Resigning now could perhaps ease much of the hostile atmosphere in the country, and create a strong pressure on others to do the same.Her party is neither democratic nor constitutional; it is out for power and to further the ambitions of its members. Her politics, her Keynesian policies, flout laws and expectations of the people. It acts as a tool, a gizmo for the ambitious and those already wealthy to accrue more wealth. Political and organizational power is handed over to those who are either rich or are her petty confidants, or members of her biological family. The party, the Awami League, has lost its credibility and so has Sheikh Hasina. She must change her politics and begin to work for lasting national peace by accommodating diversity in beliefs and ideologies, while remaining within boundaries of the law. She must work for institutional reorganization to guarantee individual sovereignty. She must make peace with her opponents, truthfully democratize her own party, and let the independent laws of the country protect the people and punish the guilty, instead of persistently and spitefully putting one section of people against the other.The country can look forward to stability only if rules are firmly laid down for safeguarding the rights, lives and properties of all individuals irrespective of their economic, political or social positions. Contrarily, her divide and bleed politics would serve the hidden schemes of foreign powers to make Bangladesh an Iraq or worse, and I do not think the people of Bangladesh would take it lying down.Nizam Ahmad is a scholar at Making Our Economy Right, a Bangladesh-based think tank that supports free markets, individual rights and the rule of law. He can be reached at nizam_moer@btinternet.com
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