Much Ado about Army

More than six years ago, the then chief adviser Iajuddin Ahmed, who was also the President holding the defence portfolio, suddenly ordered army deployment on December 9, 2006 to maintain law and order. In fact it was the BNP, tired of the Awami League's shifting demands, that forced Iajuddin to deploy the army "to aid civil administration" and pre-empt the opposition's planned sit-in the next day. Iajuddin had also taken the decision of army deployment on November 12 the same year as the AL-led alliance was waging street agitations. But that decision was reversed at the last minute when the advisers baulked at not being consulted and over the way the deployment was ordered. But he did not reverse the decision he took the second time in December. That unilateral decision irked advisors of the caretaker government and finally four of them resigned. The army deployment however could not improve the situation. At one stage, the AL-led alliance quit the polls and announced to resist the one-sided election. The BNP-led alliance was desperate to have had the polls held. The caretaker government-led by Iajuddin was moving as per the BNP's dictums. Even the army was given more power to maintain law and order for smoothly holding the polls scheduled for January 22, 2007. The BNP might have felt encouraged considering the February 15, 1996 one-sided parliamentary polls when the army played a significant role in maintaining law and order to hold the election amid the boycott of all other major political parties. At that time the BNP was in power. But over the years, the situation has changed a lot, a fact that the BNP leadership could not understand in 2006. The political situation became more violent in the January of 2007. And the Army did not want to be a part of the conflict between the two rival political parties. Rather, they intervened into the situation and forced the then President Iajuddin to resign as the chief adviser and to declare the state of emergency in order to save the country from the lurking disaster. After more than six years, the political situation appears to have changed little. The election time non-partisan caretaker government system was scrapped by the AL-led government. That has made the political situation volatile. And all the signs suggest that the situation will become more volatile in the days ahead of the parliamentary polls supposed to be held at the end of this year. The BNP-led alliance has been reiterating that they would boycott and resist the election if it is held under the AL-led government. The AL-led government has been rejecting the BNP's demand for restoration of an election time non-partisan government and is determined to remain in power during the upcoming polls. Under such a situation, the AL-led government has opted for a strategy different from that of the Iajuddin-led administration. It has decided not to bring the army in the field in the run up to the upcoming parliamentary polls.

In line with the strategy, the LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam, also ruling AL's general secretary, on July 24 at a conference asked deputy commissioners, who usually work as returning officers to conduct the polls, to prepare for the elections without the help of the army. Ashraf did not say anything about the politics behind his government's strategy. But there is of course politics which the government policymakers know very well. The LGRD minister however justified his government strategy by citing its success in holding local government polls without the help of the army. But the way this success was achieved cannot be compared with the way the parliamentary polls will be held. Both are completely different in nature. The facts speak the truth. The election to more than 4,000 union parishads was the large scale election the EC conducted during the present government's term in office. The elections were held in two phases – first in between March to April and second in between May to June of 2011. And the total number of voters were around six crore. The same year in January it conducted polls to 254 municipalities which together had 74.53 lakh voters. And the polls were held in four different days of January 2011. And the polls to nine city corporations that were held at different times in four years have altogether 48. 69 lakh voters. Law enforcement agencies were able to ensure security as none of the elections were held countrywide. And the results were nothing to do with the change of state power. But during the parliamentary polls the situation will be completely different. This election is the only legitimate means to get to power. And the EC will have to conduct polling in 300 parliamentary constituencies in a single day. The number of voters in the upcoming polls will be more than 9.20 crore. So, the success in holding local government polls cannot be the reason behind the government's decision not to deploy army in the parliamentary polls. The army was deployed to maintain law and order in all the parliamentary elections held since the country's independence. Assuming office in January 2009, the AL however indicated its stance against the army's role in election. It has amended the Representation of the People Order, scrapping the army's sweeping authority to arrest anybody without warrant for electoral offence on the polling day. The army was given this authority before the 2001 parliamentary elections. In the 2001 polls, the AL suffered a debacle, and denounced the role of many army officers in the election. Later, the AL-led 14-party alliance in 2004 demanded that the government scrap the army's authority. But in a sudden move during the emergency rule in 2008, the AL in an electoral dialogue with the EC announced that they had accepted the army's authority for the greater interest of the nation.  But assuming office in 2009, the AL had changed its position. The way the AL-led government is moving towards the next parliamentary poll has raised some crucial questions: does the AL-led government sincerely want to keep the army away from the political hullabaloo? Or does it want to keep the army away considering the situation that had prevailed in January 2007? Will the strategy work?