11-01-06, 9:01 am
According to the constitution of Bangladesh, the parliament was dissolved at midnight on September 27, and a non-party caretaker government, led by the retired Chief Justice was to take the oath of office within 15 days. The elected government will cease to be in power after this oath-taking. Justice Hasan, who was supposed to take the oath on the 27th is reportedly ill, and the oath-taking ceremony was officially postponed.
The 14-party opposition alliance, led by Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, announced earlier that will not accept Justice Hasan as the chief of the caretaker government because of his BNP background, and that if Hasan becomes the chief adviser, the 14-party alliance will neither participate in the elections nor allow elections to be held. They also called for a country-wide blockade and the breaking of communication links between the rest of the country and the capital city, Dhaka, immediately after Justice Hasan takes oath.
The Awami-League-led alliance has been pressing for 31-point series of demands for electoral reform. The BNP Government had refused even to discuss electoral reform, alleging that the AL did not find such reforms necessary while in power.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh has preferred to remain independent and united with the Left Democratic Alliance (LDF), while calling for a left democratic alternative committed to the fight against communalism, plundering capitalism and imperialism. The CPB has also been coordinating its struggle with the 14-party alliance for convergent and parallel actions against the BNP-Jamat-led reactionary and anti-people government. In supporting the major demands laid down in the 31-point program, the CPB has said that while these demands are important, they are not enough to ensure a free and fair election. The CPB has organized mass actions in support of its own 53-point program aimed at fundamental reform of the electoral system and freeing it from money and repressive political power. Similar demands have been raised by the LDF, but both AL and the BNP government have totally ignored them.
However, under the pressure of public opinion, the business community, and diplomatic circles, the AL and the BNP began a dialogue at the General Secretary level just before the end of the term of the present government. But despite public demands and six meetings between the two party Secretaries, the dialogue failed to yield any result. In the end, the AL demands were finally reduced to a single point: that an acceptable Chief Adviser must be found other than Justice Hasan.
Dramatic developments are taking place in Bangladesh, and it is difficult to predict what is going to happen ultimately. In the meantime, there are reports that Justice Hasan has already expressed his unwillingness to take on the responsibility. Behind-the-scenes negotiations at various levels are going on to find an acceptable candidate for the post of Chief Adviser.
The Khaleda Zia government includes two ministers known as war criminals from Jamate Islam, an organization notorious for its opposition during the War of Independence in 1971, and for its communalist and fundamentalist politics. The Khaleda government, despite its landslide victory in the last election has lost ground considerably because of its failure to control prices, a series of countrywide bomb blasts organized by fundamentalist militants, a rash of political murders, and its anti-people and pro-imperialist policies.
However, the 14-party alliance led by the Awami League has failed to make use of the isolation of the Khaleda government and the people’s anger. Despite AL's pledge to bring down the government before the end of its tenure and various action programmes, it was not possible to dislodge the government.
The Khaleda government was also faced with an internal feud within its own party and alliance. This was first precipitated when the president of Bangladesh, Badruddoza Choudhury, one of the founders of BNP, was asked to resign, and he thereupon joined the opposition and formed his own party. Just before the end of its term, the BNP faced another crisis when, on October 26, twenty-four ministers and MPs, along with hundreds of others, resigned from the BNP and formed the Liberal Democratic Party, with B. Choudhury as its chief. It is reported that many more may leave the BNP in the upcoming days from different parts of the country.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh, in a public meeting on the afternoon of September 27, presided over by its President, Manzurul Ahsan Khan, and also addressed by Mujahidul Islam Selim, the General Secretary, called upon the President of Bangladesh to use his discretion to find an acceptable chief adviser according to the five other options provided in the constitution. The leaders said that any attempt to hold elections without the main opposition will be disastrous. The leaders also called upon all parties to practice restraint and to remain alert against attempts to disrupt the constitutional process in order to bring the dark forces to power.
Latest News: October 27
The President of Bangladesh has invited the General Secretaries of the AL and BNP Parties to Bangabhaban, his official residence, in order to find an acceptable chief adviser for the caretaker government. The two leaders are reportedly on their way to Bangabhaban, while the country is in turmoil, and people are expecting the leaders of the two parties contending for power to reach a settlement regarding the parliamentary election to be held within three months after the caretaker government is sworn in.
Further addition: Informed sources have reported that a settlement has been agreed upon, and that a chief adviser acceptable to all will be sworn in tomorrow.
News Update : 10/29/2006
Over the past two days, about 20 people have been killed during clashes between rival parties and also by police action. The situation is very tense. It has now come out in the press that during the meeting between the general secretaries of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League (AL) last evening, the President said that he was ready to take the charge as chief adviser of the caretaker government, as laid down by the sixth option in the constitution. The BNP agreed, but the AL said no and wanted the other options to be tried according to their constitutional sequence. The President has now called a meeting of the major political parties to discuss the possibility of forming a caretaker government.
The AL has declared that the caretaker government should take oath by Sunday without fail and that it should be formed according to the constitution. The AL has called a meeting for this afternoon. Possibly they will observe the decision of the President, but if they do not agree they will move forward with demonstrations. Yesterday (10-28-06), the Prime Minister, while addressing a public meeting in Dhaka in the afternoon, threatened that after the caretaker government is sworn in, they will reply to the 14-party alliance in a similarly hostile fashion.
People are very concerned about the danger of further clashes and turmoil. The Communist Party of Bangladesh has expressed its concern over the deaths of so many people during the past two days, and called upon the President to immediately appoint a Chief Adviser according to the constitution. The CPB also calls upon all party comrades and all the people of Bangladesh to observe November 1 as 'Save Democracy Day'.
