Good News from Bangladesh

The dawn of 2009 brought with it a befitting gift for Bangladesh -- a massive mandate by its people for peace, development and also importantly, hope for revival of the very Bengali essence of life, which had got severely eroded during the over half a decade rule by the Bangladesh National Party (BNP). The Awami League (AL), known for its successful struggle for liberation of erstwhile East Pakistan against suppression by the Punjabi-dominated Army and Army-dominated government of erstwhile West Pakistan in 1971, routed the BNP in an election unprecedentedly peaceful and high in turnout of voters.

Referring to this election as a resounding endorsement of democracy and an emphatic victory for pluralism in Bangladesh, human rights activist, Asif Saleh opined in the Guardian that two miracles happened in Bangladesh. First, 80% of the Bangladeshi electorate – a record number – voted in the most peaceful elections ever in the country’s history; and second, they voted for a party that believes in secularism and by a majority big enough for it to control 85% of the parliamentary seats. Asif explained that much of the AL’s success lay in its ability to turn out the youth vote, with promises of jobs and a long term perspective called Vision 2021.

Mahfuz Anam stated in The Daily Star that the “massiveness of the rejection of the BNP” was neither explainable by the anti-incumbency factor nor simply by people’s desire for change. The defeat of this once mighty party, which last time got two-third's majority, was the “clearest and strongest possible message by the people of their disgust for what happened from 2001 to 2006 and punishment of BNP” and its allies. The votes, he added, were a “…complete and comprehensive rejection of the BNP and its allies for corruption, political violence, nepotism, Hawa Bhavan, the role of Tarique, Arafat, Falu, Harris, Babar, etc. for obliterating the distinction between the State, government and the party, politicising every branch of administration, for instituting a culture of impunity where party henchmen considered themselves above the law….for turning a blind eye as terrorism and fundamentalism spread ugly tentacles throughout the country.”

According to media reports, Bangladesh’s chief election commissioner, Shamsul Huda, defended the election as free and fair. The election commission had drawn up a computerized list of 81 million registered voters for this election and purged 11 million fake voters from the roll, he said. “About 1,500 foreign and 200,000 local observers were monitoring the whole election process, and there is no reason for anyone to complain.”
 
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal Asia found “good news” in the results, stating “this is no small accomplishment for a Muslim country with a small but menacing Islamist fringe,” but cautioned that the AL bears a heavy burden of delivering clean governance to an electorate exhausted by the corruption that has marred most Bangladeshi governments since independence in 1971. Both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia faced prosecution in the past two years on corruption charges stemming from their earlier rules. The new PM, Sheikh Hasina’s manifesto included a pledge to encourage more private investment in sectors like power and infrastructure. With the government already cutting its economy growth projection for the current fiscal year to 6.2% from 6.5%, Bangladesh must brace itself for possible fallout from the global slowdown.

Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal feels that Bangladesh should take effective steps in curbing cross-border terrorism being sheltered and sponsored from the Bangladeshi soil. Dr Smruti S Pattanaik, told that Sheikh Hasina’s government seems sincere and that there is no reason why Dhaka should not hand over ULFA boss, Paresh Barua to India, as this would be important in improving India-Bangladesh bilateral ties strained during BNP rule. Bangladesh also needs to recognise and acknowledge the issue of Bangladeshi immigration to India.

An encouraging announcement has been made by the AL government that it has reached an agreement with India to hand over Anup Chetia, the ULFA leader housed in a Bangladeshi jail since 1996. Mr Hasan Mahmud, Bangladesh’s foreign minister and special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that “We have mutually agreed on the handover, now we have to decide on the formalities of how to hand him over. It will also include handover of Bangladeshi criminals who have fled to India… Since 2001, BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami had ministers in their government who chanted slogans to turn Bangladesh into Afghanistan.” Mahmud also admitted to cross-border linkages of terrorist groups and informed that terror groups like the banned Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islam Bangladesh (HuJI-B) still existed in underground pockets in Bangladesh. Asked whether the Bangladesh government was trying to trace HuJI hideouts, Mahmud assured: “Definitely, we are trying to find out their locations.” He promised a Bangladeshi crackdown on militant groups and said “there are cross-border linkages of these terrorists… not only Lashker ((Laskhar-e-Taiba) and HuJI, but other terror organisations also… They trained in Afghanistan, they were in Pakistan, then they came here. It’s dangerous….They cooperate among themselves, now we have to cooperate among ourselves in the region to combat them.” 

The sum total of the foreign minister’s statement 19 years after ULFA’s entry into Bangladesh is a diplomatic windfall for India and a body blow to ULFA. Both countries will nonetheless have to maintain pressure while being wary, as these groups are bound to retaliate. Both must seize the opportunity to turn the tide in a major geo-strategic part of South Asia, because the positive fallout will spell not only peace, but also prosperity for Bangladesh and India’s North Eastern region.
 

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the views either of the Editorial Committee or the Centre for Land Warfare Studies)