Khaleda Zia’s pre-poll obstinacy fuels violence
That Bangladesh's political establishment failed this weekend to end the stalemate over the nature of a caretaker Government to oversee the 2014 general election, leading to a wave of violence across the country, is deeply disappointing. The historic once-in-a-decade phone conversation between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her fiercest rival Khaleda Zia on Saturday had raised hopes in some quarters of a resolution. But they collapsed after the Opposition leader refused to budge from her position even as Ms Hasina sought to meet her half-way. Ms Zia and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party continue to insist that only an election held under the watch of a caretaker Government (as has been the case in Bangladesh since 1996) can be free and fair, and that, consequently, the incumbent regime must quit office. Prime Minister Hasina had initially argued, and rightly so, that such an arrangement went against the spirit of democracy. Even the Supreme Court of Bangladesh ruled that a caretaker Government was unconstitutional. Yet, with the Opposition showing no signs relenting — it threatened to boycott the election altogether — the incumbent Awami league regime offered to have an all-party caretaker Government. But on Saturday, Ms Zia said that even this was not acceptable. She will not take anything apart from a non-party caretaker Government of the kind that was at helm during the 1996, 2001 and 2008 general elections. Yet, it is this sort of a caretaker Government that has repeatedly usurped power in Bangladesh, with the support of the military, and ruled for years at length. Even the last such regime that oversaw the 2008 general election, was in power for two years after Ms Zia's second term as Prime Minister ended in 2006. That’s not being a caretaker.
Nevertheless, an obstinate Ms Zia has refused to see reason, dismissing even Ms Hasina's offer for dinner and dialogue at the Prime Minister's residence. Instead, her party has gone ahead with its three-day, nationwide shutdown that began on Sunday and has already claimed more than half-a-dozen lives, including that of a BNP leader. A similar number also died in violent clashes between Friday and Saturday, after Ms Zia addressed a 1,00,000-strong rally in Dhaka. The situation is particularly bad in Opposition strongholds where BNP activists have come to blows with security personnel, forcing the latter to fire live bullets. Awami league workers have been targeted and the pre-poll atmosphere vitiated. In response, the Awami league-led 14-party ruling alliance has announced that it too will hold counter-rallies across the country from November 1 to protest the Opposition’s “anarchy and violence”. Bangladesh is on the boil and unless the two leaders can come to an agreement soon, the situation will spiral out of control. Incidentally, it is exactly this kind of the violence and viciousness that had led a caretaker Government to take charge in 2006.