Current Affairs
The Last Card
Photo: Star File
Early in the morning on January 11 of 2007, the then chief of army staff General Moyeen U Ahmed received a phone call from an under secretary general, who was in charge of UN peace keeping mission. The UN official told Moyeen that an election without the participation of all political parties would not be acceptable to them, and withdrawal of Bangladesh army from UN peacekeeping mission would seriously be considered if the army played any role in holding such an election, wrote General Moyeen in his book titled "In dream for peace: Reminisces of Age."
Already deployed across the country to maintain law and order, army was given election duties on January 10, 2007 with the power to arrest troublemakers who might try to foil the ninth parliamentary polls scheduled to be held 11 days later. However, after receiving the phone call from the UN, the general discussed the issue with his senior colleagues to decide their course of actions, described Moyeen in his accounts.
Ban Ki-moon
The political developments that took place later in the afternoon of January 11 are now known to everybody. Fearing a negative impact on peacekeeping mission, chiefs of the three services held a crucial meeting with the then controversial president Iajuddin Ahmed, who was leading the caretaker government. He was forced to resign as the chief adviser and declared the state of emergency that suspended the scheduled polls.
After around seven years, the country is again plunged into a political crisis centring the next general election. Bangladesh has now turned into a land of speculation. Questions are being swirled in public mind about the role of the armed forces. This is the common practice in some third world countries, especially in those where democracy remains flawed: army has a strong say in the time of political dispute. So, will the army intervene if the battling political parties fail to resolve the present crisis? And if so, what will be the nature of such intervention? Will it be a repetition of January 11, 2007? Or will it be beyond our guess?
This time around, the situation is little more complicated. The government of Sheikh Hasina abolished the caretaker government system in June 2001, paving the way for her government's stay in power during the battle of ballots.
Her archrival Khaleda Zia-led opposition alliance is vehemently opposed to the current constitutional provision and reiterated that they would boycott and resist the election if is held without the restoration of a non-partisan caretaker government. They are also preparing to intensify street agitation from the middle of October to realise their demand.
Hasina, government, however has refused to meet the demand, terming it unconstitutional and expressing its determination to remain in power during the election. The ruling AL has also recently refused to hold talks with the BNP. This shows that both the parties have reached the point of no return.
Amid such a situation, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has earlier sent delegations in last December and May this year to broker talks between the AL and BNP, on August 23 has telephoned Hasina and Khaleda and urged them to hold talks for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing political crisis.
He may also send a delegation again in the middle of next month to broker talks between the two rivals.
The UN chief's effort seems to have boosted up ambassadors of other nations who have been speaking over the last few months about the issue of holding a dialogue between the AL and BNP.
US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan Mozena on August 24 said he was very upbeat about the UN chief's conversations with Hasina and Khaleda. “I think it is a very positive development to see the direct engagement of the UN secretary general reaching out personally to the leaders of the two major parties … reiterating a very strong and powerful message on the need for a dialogue.”
Political analysts think the UN involvement in the situation will create pressure on Hasina's government to negotiate with the BNP to find an amicable solution to the crisis. And under such a situation it may not be as easy as Hasina's government thought to proceed with its strategy of holding the general election.
The ruling AL camps did not say much about the UN effort. As per the briefing given by the prime minister's media advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, the government's official news agency, BSS, made a report on Hasina's conversation with the UN chief.
Photo: AFP
According to the report, Hasina had called upon the opposition to join the next parliament session and place their proposal regarding the next polls and the polls-time government.
The UN chief's effort has however boosted the BNP leaders. They are considering it a trump card to playagainst Hasina. They have lauded the UN effort, claiming it a proof of their demand for a non-partisan election time government.
Referring to the UN chief's advice on holding the next election with the participation of all the political parties, BNP senior leader Moudud Ahmed on August 26 claimed that he [Ban] had talked about holding the next election under a non-party government.
The same day another BNP senior leader Rafiqul Islam Mia said: “We all have to sit for a dialogue in line with the UN secretary general call to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia to resolve the country's ongoing political stand-off.”
The latest development indicates that the BNP will leave no stone unturned to get political mileage from the UN chief's move. Hasina and her AL were benefited from the UN move in January 2007, which stopped the BNP-led alliance's bid to hold the parliamentary polls without the participation of the AL.
And in effort to resist that election, Hasina resorted to all possible means. Along with intensified street agitations, she hoped that chiefs of the three forces -- army, navy and air force -- would exert their power to make Iajuddin step down as the chief adviser. Her wishes were fulfilled as Iajuddin resigned as CA on January 11, 2007. She also sought a UN-mediated election rather than the prospect of a general election under the then caretaker government led by Iajuddin, according to US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in September 2011.
"Hasina wrote to the UN Secretary General in December [2006] asking for UN monitoring of the election," reads a January 7, 2007 cable sent by the then US ambassador to Dhaka Patricia A Butenis.
She, along with the then British high commissioner Anwar Chowdhury, met the AL president the day before.
"Hasina expressed some interest in a UN mediated election, but it was clear that she envisioned an election effectively run by the UN and not just UN mediation of the political issues separating the two major political alliances," the cable added. So, it is time for Khaleda to follow Hasina's suit and get as much mileage as she can from the UN move.
The writer is Senior Reporter, The Daily Star.
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