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POLITICS-BANGLADESH: No More a Battle of the Begums

Analysis by Farid Ahmed

DHAKA, Apr 20 2007 (IPS) - With Bangladesh’s two main political figures, Sheikh Hasina Wajed and her arch rival Begum Khaleda Zia, facing indefinite exile, people in this impoverished country expect a spell of governance devoid of corruption, political chicanery, religious fundamentalism and violence.

Prof. Ataur Rahman, a noted political analyst who teaches political science at Dhaka University, was among those critical of the two female leaders and their governance by patronage. “The old democratic process and leadership are no longer valid in Bangladesh as they (the two ladies) could not bring any good result for the country… all we got was corruption, violence and fear. We need a change… renegotiated democracy in a new constitutional framework,” he told IPS in an interview.

Former World Bank official and leader of the interim government, Fakhruddin Ahmed, moved this week to block Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League party, currently abroad, from returning home. Ahmed has also arranged to send the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Khaleda Zia, who completed a five-year term as prime minister in October, to exile in Saudi Arabia.

The two women, representatives of powerful political dynasties, have ruled Bangladesh alternately since 1991 when they came together to lead mass protests against the military dictatorship of H.M. Ershad and get democracy reinstated.

But, the 16 years that followed turned out to be a period of extreme polarisation that frequently erupted into pitched battles between the supporters of the two parties. The latest round of violence came after elections were set for Jan. 22 and revolved around charges that voters’ lists had been tampered with by a partisan election commission.

Charges of corruption and resort to violence appear to have come in handy for Ahmed to negotiate deals with the two ladies and ensure that they stay away from Bangladesh for prolonged periods.

Khaleda Zia is expected to fly to Jeddah before Sunday along with most of her family members according to a deal she made with the government soon after her youngest son Arafat Rahman was detained by the army-led joint forces. Her elder son and BNP general secretary Tarique Ahmed, already in prison, is expected to join the family in Jeddah later.

Sheikh Hasina, presently in London, has announced plans to defy the ban and land in Dhaka on Apr. 23. But she riks arrest on charges of collecting kickbacks in a private power plant deal nine years ago when she was the prime minister. She also faces charges of homicide relating to the deaths of six people in street violence on Oct. 28 -the day Khaleda Zia stepped down as prime minister.

Mainul Hosein, who holds charge of the information and law ministries, said on Wednesday: ”In case the Awami League chief returns, legal measures will have to be taken against her.” He said that the government has already requested different airlines not to carry her home.

“We want good new leadership to emerge instead of the old ones,” Hosein had said after a meeting with the chief election commissioner on Apr. 4 clearly indicating the intention of the present dispensation to ensure that the two ladies are excluded from the country’s political life.

Many see in Ahmed’s moves a parallel to the situation in Pakistan where military strongman, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, with popular support, has kept the country’s two main political leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, in exile since 1999.

The interim government in Dhaka, which is backed by the army, took power on Jan. 12 under a state of emergency, clamped after wave after wave of street violence rocked the country and crippled normal functioning through November and December.

Since assuming power, the Ahmed government has banned all political activities and launched a massive crackdown on corruption, detaining scores of former ministers, ex-lawmakers, businessmen and bureaucrats.

Prof. Rahman said the only way that the two main political parties, the Awami League and the BNP could survive is for their top leaders to ”admit their failure and relinquish their positions in the parties to pave the way for new leadership”.

“Politicians alone can’t rule Bangladesh … we need an integrated framework where the politicians, civil society and the military can take charge of the government in an inclusive manner,” Rahman said.

A former student leader who had a key role in an anti-martial law movement in the 1980s, Asaduzzaman Ripon, told IPS that because of the massive corruption of the past 15 years, the present military-backed government enjoyed the support of the people.

“Although the two top leaders of the country are now forced to stay out of the country, there is no protest and everybody, even in their political parties, is silent,” said Ripon, who now heads a Dhaka-based think-tank the National Democratic Foundation.

Both Khaleda Zia and Hasina Wajed, entered Bangladesh’s turbulent and often bloody politics through a route familiar in Asia – public sympathy following putsches that eliminated powerful male relatives.

While Hasina Wajed inherited the leadership of the Awami League from her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Khaleda Zia heads the party created by her husband Ziaur Rahman – a military general turned politician.

Hasina Wajed’s father Mujibur Rahman organised the country’s war of independence which resulted in the birth of Bangladesh, seceding from Pakistan.

Popularly known as ‘Bangabandhu’ (the friend of Bengal), Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members were assassinated in a military coup in August 1975. Hasina Wajed and a sister survived because they were in Germany at that time.

Khaleda Zia entered politics after Ziaur Rahman, who became president in 1977, was assassinated in a military coup in 1981.