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Journalism of Courage
For the last two years, Bangladesh has been standing at the crossroads. Governed by a military-backed caretaker administration led by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, the period has seen the decimation of its civilian leadership through their widespread imprisonment 8212; including of the two most important leaders 8212; in an effort to purge the system of corruption. Attempts to restore a democratically elected government have, however, brought Awami League8217;s Sheikh Hasina as well as Bangladesh National Party8217;s Khaleda Zia back into the daylight, preparing for the December 29 polls that will decide which way the country will go for the next few years.
The battling begums, as the Hasina-Zia duo is known for their bitter political animosity and their alternating hold on power between 1991 and 2006, are not the only figures of the past to have reappeared in the gradually animating political scene. So has Hussein Muhammad Ershad, the military leader whose seizure of power in 1982 and the subsequent eight years of misrule had become synonymous with corruption, leading to widespread discontent and a mass movement to end his hold on power. Now donning more legitimate garb, as the head of the Jatiya Party, Ershad has entered into an electoral alliance with the Awami League and is widely speculated to bargain for the President8217;s post if the election results are in their favour.
The familiar cast has, with it, brought back the feeling of sitting through the umpteenth re-enactment of a well-worn script. An ominous lack of options faced Bangladesh. Its people, in spite of being wary of military dictatorships, largely supported the ouster of civilian rule in the hope of achieving a semblance of what in ethical terms would be called the right 8212; a less corrupt, less greedy, less destabilising form of governance. The 8220;minus-two formula8221; 8212; liquidating the two leading ladies 8212; and the consequent leadership vacuum, was, however, difficult to accept. The Army, not accountable to anybody, was running a caretaker administration that was in serious danger of going beyond its mandate and taking care of things for much longer than was expected. Still, an anti-corruption drive would hopefully chastise the errant, and the punishment the High Court upheld electoral disqualification if sentenced for two years or more might keep them on the straight path for some time.
Bangladesh thus confronted the same leaders heading the same parties, renewing and reviving themselves over and over again in a cyclical political process, watched over by the apparently benign guardianship of an army above any reproach, elevated to the role of the arbiter and the restorer of democracy. And a situation where Army Chief Moeen U. Ahmed8217;s political opinion is more valuable than the rest, whether it is about the call to withdraw emergency and restore fundamental rights before the polls, or whether it is the manipulative strategising to recently put Hasina and Zia on a common platform during a military function and get them to exchange social pleasantries after a gap of almost 15 years.
Bangladesh has arrived at a situation where the Army8217;s omnipresence is not likely to be questioned, where civilian democracy will take roots only as far as the Army would like it to. The civilian leaders lack both the courage and the willingness to subordinate the Army; post-election, whatever administration is in place will exercise only so much uninhibited freedom. It will be a useful compromise, as the presence of a democratic civilian government would help attract donors, never mind who gets to call the final shots. What it will not deserve is any honourable mention in South Asia8217;s endless permutations with the democratic experiment.
antara.dasexpressindia.com
