Opinion Dhaka deadlock

And the violence has only been intensified by the new,more horrific tactics adopted by the opposition. Petrol bombs have been hurled into public transport vehicles as well as on the streets. The police have come under attack. Meanwhile,education across the country has been severely disrupted,with schools,colleges and universities remaining shut. Teachers have rescheduled examinations on the understanding that there would be a break in the agitation,only to find the opposition erupting again with a fresh programme or continued protests. Predictably,businesses have suffered,with garment owners worrying over the possible cancellation of orders from abroad. Migrant workers who were home on leave from the Middle East and other regions have stationed themselves at the airport days before their scheduled departure,so that they don’t miss the flight back.

At such a time of crisis,neither the ruling Awami League nor the opposition has demonstrated any inclination for compromise. Sheikh Hasina has now officially taken over as interim prime minister,by bringing in new ministers from her party as well as from parties aligned with her Awami League. The move caught the BNP off guard. It had apparently thought that the pressure on the streets would force the prime minister to back down and pave the way for the formation of a non-party caretaker government to oversee the general elections,now scheduled for January 5 next year. The key point in the opposition’s list of demands is the resignation of the prime minister in the interest of fair,inclusive,and therefore credible,elections. For its part,the government has long argued that it conducted the recent by-elections and elections to the five city corporations fairly — the ruling party lost all the corporations to the BNP. So there is no need for the caretaker system that it scrapped in 2011. The opposition remains unconvinced.

Meanwhile,with each passing day,the country plumbs lower depths. Images on television and in the newspapers tell the story. While the government has placed a number of senior opposition figures in prison,the BNP and,more specifically,its rightwing ally,the Jamaat-e-Islami,have gone on the rampage. Over the past few weeks,hundreds of vehicles have been torched all over the country. The blockade has not only isolated Dhaka from the rest of the country but also led to severed links between other cities and smaller towns. Opposition activists have uprooted railway tracks in various areas of the country. Long-haul buses have not moved. Neither have the many river vessels which crisscross the country with loads of passengers on a normal day.

These are dangerous times for Bangladesh,so much so that hardly anyone can predict the shape of things to come,even in the immediate future. The Election Commission,which the opposition has castigated as a lackey of the ruling party,has announced a schedule for the polling. The EC has been in consultations with various government ministries on the issue of the presence of foreign observers at the election. It has also noted that should the BNP decide to join the elections,a fresh schedule could be put in place. Meanwhile,a few civil society members,led by former foreign minister Kamal Hossain,met President Abdul Hamid a couple of days ago to ask him to take the initiative for a resolution of the crisis.

The crisis continues. The leadership of the opposition BNP has offered not a word of regret over the deaths of citizens and injuries to scores of others in the wave of violence its activists have let loose across the country. An embattled government tries to be tough,but it is not quite succeeding in its efforts. With a history of democracy regularly being imperilled in its 42-year history,Bangladesh once again faces a future of stark uncertainty.

The writer is executive editor,‘The Daily Star’,Dhaka

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