People's Democracy

Conflict Scenario In Bangladesh Today

Kamal Chowdhury

WITH the national parliamentary polls drawing near, the conflict between the opposition political parties and the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition, alongwith its repressive measures to muzzle democratic opinion by making use of the government machinery, has been fast on the rise. Foreign interference in the domestic affairs of Bangladesh is also increasing.

OPPORTUNIST, REPRESSIVE GANG-UP

Though no political party attained a clear majority in the national parliamentary polls held in 2001, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Begum Khaleda Zia formed a coalition government by striking a political alliance with the Islamic fundamentalist and communal political party Jamaat-e-Islami, throwing to the winds all principle and ideology in an all-pervading hunger for power.

One notes that the Jamaat-e-Islami party openly opposed the Bangladesh freedom movement in 1971 and ruthlessly killed thousands of freedom loving political leaders and activists, along with progressive minded intellectuals, and raped and gang-raped thousands of women in league with the Pakistani army by forming killing squad named “Razakars” and “Al Badr” etc.

Immediately following the assumption of power by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami fundamentalist combine, widespread pre-planned attacks were carried out on the religious minorities in the rural areas. Protected by well known activists of the ruling coalition, goons of the majority community ransacked the houses belonging to the minority community people, plundered, arsoned and ravaged them, and assaulted their womenfolk. Such savage assaults on women of minority communities were not seen even in the erstwhile East Pakistan.

These pre-planned attacks on the minority communities so as to force them to move out permanently abandon are an outcome of the largely successful conspiracy of religious fundamentalists of the majority community supported by the government. The victims of such violence --- several thousand people of religious minorities from rural Bangladesh --- have either taken shelter in the urban areas or migrated to the neighbouring India. Though the combined pressure of secular forces of Bangladesh and the active resistance from the media to such savagery made the religious communalist barbarians retreat, stray attacks on the minorities are still being carried off and on.

As a concrete proof of the concealed support these goons have from the present government, despite widespread attacks on the religious minorities, the police have filed not even a single chargesheet in a court, not to speak of even a single example of conviction of a criminal.

DEMOCRACY UNDER THREAT

The coalition regime of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami coalition regime is today posing a fatal threat to the yet-to-mature democratic set-up of the country.

Today, terror is being struck in Bangladesh by two Islamic fundamentalist extremist organisations --- named Jamaatul-Mujahiddin Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB), which on August 17, 2005 carried out attacks in the compounds of a court and at other vital places in 63 out of the total 64 districts in the country. These outfits have imparted to about two thousand youths the training in arms and explosives. Later on, they killed a minimum of 30 people including two assistant district judges, and injured more than 1,000 by carrying out attacks on judges, lawyers, journalists, other intellectuals and political leaders with bombs, grenades and sophisticated firearms. The Bangladeshi media played a courageous role in exposing the identities and terrorist activities of these Islamic extremists.

The leaders of these two extremist organisations, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman and Siddiqul-Islam alias Bangla Bhai, could not deny that they are also in leadership of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a partner in the present coalition government. All members of the extremist network are well known as activists of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, students wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Both Sheikh Abdur-Rahman and Siddiqul-Islam have admitted to having received training in the Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan and to their building up a terrorist network nationwide along with collection of huge quantities of arms and explosive. Tremendous pressure of public opinion forced the police to arrest the supremos of these two fundamentalist militant organisations and seize from their hideouts a huge cache of firearms and deadly explosives.

Sheikh Abdur-Rahman and Siddiqul-Islam have confessed to ruling party leaders and even police officers making use of arms and explosives to carry out attacks on opposition political leaders. They also owned up their responsibility for killing 10 people through bomb blasts in 1997 --- during the cultural function of “Udichi,” a progressive cultural organisation at Jessore. They have also admitted their role in the bomb attack on a rally of the Communist Party of Bangladesh in Dhaka, on 3 cinema halls at Maimansingh town and in the assassination of Professor Humayun Azad, a renowned progressive novelist and head of the Department of Bengali at Dhaka University. The attempt on the life of Awami League president Sheikh Hasina Wajed on August 21, 2004 is also believed to be their handiwork. This attack left 21 people dead.

Any hope that activities of the Islamic extremists would be on the wane after the arrest of Sheikh Abdur-Rahman and Siddiqul-Islam is hoping against hope. The two extremist organisations have openly threatened to blow up the Indian embassy in Dhaka with explosives unless their leaders are released.

NON-JUDICIAL KILLINGS

Announcing its aim of stamping out insurgency and anti-social activities, the present government, formed about two years ago, created a new paramilitary force called Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and giving it a license to freely kill the people. Almost daily, official press releases then began to flash the news like “extremist killed in crossfire with RAB.” The very next day after the arrest of a citizen, a press release is flashed in newspapers and television channels that an extremist has been killed in an encounter with RAB members.

Such non-judicial killings of quite a few hundred youth in the past two years have been protested by numerous lawyers and legal experts including Habibur- Rahman, former chief justice of Bangladesh Supreme Court. Most of those killed in so-called encounters with RAB were known as supporters of opposition parties.

However, what is remarkable is the fact that no such crossfire has to date taken place between the RAB and the JAM or JMJB cadres who had been nabbed by the RAB or the police.

LINKS WITH INDIAN SEPARATISTS

The supply of sophisticated firearms and explosive to the separatist militants of eastern and north-eastern India via Bangladesh territory is steadily on the rise. On May 1, 2004, ten truckloads of firearms and explosives, being smuggled via sea for supply to the north-eastern extremists, were seized in a jetty at the Chittagong port. News was flashed in local dailies to the effect that the ISI, Pakistan’s military intelligence organisation, had been the source of such huge smuggling of arms. The jetty of Chittagong port where the 10 truckloads of weapons were held, belongs to the ministry of industry of the Bangladesh government and its minister is a Jamaat-e-Islami leader Matiur-Rahman Nizami.

This incident clearly exposed the link between religious fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami and the separatist militants of India. But the government just formed an inquiry committee and later muffled up its report, while the Jamaat-e-Islami leader cum industry minister remained ensconced in his gaddi.

Although there were quite a number of other hauls of smuggled arms in the vicinity of the Indo-Bangladesh border over the past two years, extremists and arms smugglers continue to evade arrest for not so mysterious reasons. During their interviews with the press, quite a number of former military officials have expressed their opinion on how the international extremist network has been making use of Bangladesh territory to supply arms and explosives to the separatist militants in of India. Numerous pieces of information about the collusion of north-eastern India’s separatist militants with the Islamic extremist organisations have been flashed in the local dailies. Their training camps at several places including Chittagong Hills, Sylhet and Maimansingh as well as and their supply of arms and explosives to Indian separatist outfits have been well documented.

During their interviews with the press, the same former military officials have also expressed their opinion on how the extremist network in Bangladesh is posing a big threat to the life and property of country’s own citizens. The day-to-day life of the common people of Bangladesh is in a shambles due to the unbridled activities of Islamic fundamentalist militants and foreign extremists.

On the other hand, the present coalition government has miserably failed to check the rise in prices of essential commodities; electricity charges are spiralling and there is a veritable crisis of electricity and water in the country. Recently, 20 peasants lost their lives in a police firing at Kansat in Chapai Nawabganj district during a peaceful protest movement to press for regular power supply. The government has been hyperactive in implementing the diktat of the World Bank and IMF, which is making the life of the citizens a veritable hell.

POLL RIGGING ON THE ANVIL

At the same time, there are solid grounds to believe that the present coalition is trying to perpetuate itself in power by any means. In accordance with a constitutional amendment passed in 1991, the present government of Bangladesh must resign on the coming October 27, after completing its 5 years tenure, and then a caretaker government must take over from the next day and complete the parliamentary poll under its supervision within the next six months. But the opposition parties are afraid that the ruling alliance has made big preparations for a recapture of power by rigging the next parliamentary polls.

This constitutional amendment was passed in 1991 following a mass uprising against H M Ershad’s despotic military rule, so as to facilitate the parliamentary elections under the supervision of a caretaker government with a view to ensuring free and fare polls. In accordance with the amendment, a retired chief justice of Bangladesh is to head the caretaker government and supervise the entire poll process. But the tragedy is that in Bangladesh judiciary has not yet been separated from the administration, nor is there any provision to form a judicial commission or a collegium led by the chief justice. It is the prime minister who still appoints the chief justices of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and the situation naturally enables the ruling party to appoint Supreme Court’s and High Courts’ chief justices as well as judges from among its supporters.

Similar partisanship is there in the appointment of the election commissioners. For, the Election Commission too is under the control of the prime ministers secretariat, and it is the prime minister who appoints the chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners according to her or his own sweet will. The present chief election commissioner is a serving justice of the Supreme Court and well known as close to the ruling party. And the same is the case in respect of other two election commissioners, one of whom has even been charged with possession of contraband arms.

It has come to light that the coalition government of Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami has made elaborate arrangements for packing the caretaker government and the Election Commission with their own people. Though the present chief justice of the Supreme Court was to retire last year, at the time he attained the 65 years of age, and was to head the next caretaker government, his lack of adequate closeness with the ruling combine has resulted in the issuance of an administrative notification from the prime minister’s secretariat changing the present chief justice’s working tenure from 65 to 67 years of age. The idea perhaps is that his not being a former chief justice of the Supreme Court would disqualify him for heading the caretaker government. Justice K M Hassan, who was secretary of international affairs in the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is now to head the caretaker government. it is in view of such moves that the opposition parties are apprehensive that the ruling coalition has hatched a plot to rig the coming polls by making use of the Election Commission and the civil administration.

Almost the entire press in Bangladesh has brought out factual reports to the effect that the draft electoral roll, recently published by the Election Commission, is absolutely faulty. The opposition’s allegation is that while the name of about one crore of bona fide voters known as opposition supporters have been deleted from the voters list, the names of 1.65 crore fake voters have been included. Although the Supreme Court Bar Association filed a writ petition in the High Court demanding withdrawal of the defective draft electoral roll and the High Court rejected the draft electoral roll prepared by the Election Commission ordering the revision of the year 2001 voter list, the Election Commission is yet to act upon the court order.

MOVEMENT FOR POLL REFORMS

The opposition political partiers are now in the midst of a movement to press for election reforms and for removal of the present chief election commissioner and other election commissioners. They also boycotted the parliamentary session for almost a year. Although the main opposition party, the Awami League, recently joined the session once again and mooted specific proposals for electoral reforms, the treasury benches have been creating a situation that is detrimental to discussions, despite the government’s expressed pledge for holding discussions on the matter.

Taking a principled stand on the issue, the 14-party opposition alliance also demanded a negotiation between the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders without any participation of Jamaat-e-Islami as it was a pronounced enemy of the Bangladesh freedom movement or at least direct negotiations between the prime minister and the opposition leader. But the Bangladesh Nationalist Party refused to enter into any negotiation without the participation of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders. Since there is currently no prospect of any negotiation between the two sides, the ruling alliance is now trying to pass a constitutional amendment with its brutal majority strength in parliament. In the meanwhile, as the 14-party alliance organised a number of protest and blockade programmes, the intolerant government is perpetrating tremendous and ruthless repression by ordering the police and paramilitary forces to stoop down upon even women political activists to stamp out the democratic movement, resulting in a situation of tremendous tension and confrontation.

Not all members of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party are, however, able to stomach their leadership’s despotism. One of the founders of this party, Dr Badrudduza Chowdhury, was forced to resign from the post of president of the country. Now his followers too have embarked on a movement for removal of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-Jamaat-e-Islami coalition government.

The condition of tribals of Bangladesh is deteriorating day by day. The peace treaty of the erstwhile Awami League government with the tribal leaders of Chittagong Hills is being openly flouted by the coalition government by settling non-tribals in the tribal belt. This is creating a complicated situation where killings, plundering and arson are becoming an almost daily phenomenon.

With growing political tension in Bangladesh, some foreign diplomatic missions have been openly interfering in its domestic affairs. The diplomats of the United States and European countries have been airing their opinions in public and advising the political parties.

The present scenario will slide further towards an intensification of violent political clashes, observers feel.