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News of Jan
6, 2007
Presidential Reference Can Save
Bangladesh Polls
By Mahendra Ved
New
Delhi, Jan 6
Only a presidential reference to the Supreme Court can help ensure
fullest political participation and save the credibility of
Bangladesh's general elections due Jan 22, says a former Indian
envoy to Dhaka.
Article 106 of Bangladesh's constitution provides for such a
reference. President Iajuddin Ahmed can invoke it to postpone the
polls, update the "flawed" voters' list and create conditions
conducive to free and fair polls that the same statute stipulates
for him as the chief advisor.
"The 90-day time limit to conduct the elections is not a holy cow,"
the diplomat told IANS, preferring not to be named.
"All is not lost yet. Even at this late stage, with polling still 17
days away, I do hope good sense will prevail over partisan
considerations," he said.
The diplomat's comments came as Bangladesh's main opposition Awami
League
and its 13 alliance partners threatened to boycott the general
elections.
According to him, the presidential reference is the only way out
since a postponement of elections would require a constitutional
amendment, for which the Jatiya Sangsad (National Assembly) is not
in existence now.
The constitutional path alone could save the process from being
marred by violence, controversy and political deadlock.
Prospects of violence in the run-up and even after the elections
worry a cross-section of Bangladesh watchers in India at the turn of
events.
The neighborhood concern stems from targeting of religious
minorities as had happened during, and long after, the last
elections in 2001.
Commentator Hiranmay Karlekar, Sreeradha Datta, Research Fellow at
the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), and strategic
expert Maloy Krishna Dhar, all keen Bangladesh watchers, were
unanimous in expressing fear about violence, especially after the
poll boycott by the "grand alliance" led by the Awami League of
Sheikh Hasina.
Reports of deployment of the armed forces have only enhanced these
fears. "It will be violence by the government," Datta warned.
The process now underway in Bangladesh is headed towards becoming "a
non-election," whose credibility would be questioned, since the
"grand alliance" clearly represents a wider phalanx of the political
opinion than its rival four-party alliance, the experts said.
They were also unanimous in their view that the "grand alliance" was
left with no choice in view of a lack of transparency in the
election process and a voters' list "packed" with spurious voters,
keeping out 1.2 million religious minorities and tribals.
"The money power has played its role," said Dhar. Karlekar pointed
to the role of "Saudi money" and Pakistan's Inter Services
Intelligence (ISI).
Painting a grim post-poll scenario, Karlekar said Begum Khaleda Zia
and her Bangladesh Nationalist Party would run the government while
Jamaat-e-Islami, which shared power in 2001-06, would stay out to
"implement the Al Qaeda agenda in South Asia of having an Islamic
Caliphate in South Asia".
Dhar said Hasina was "defeated by permanent bureaucracy" that
conducts the polls. Even the higher echelons in the government,
appointed by Zia and not touched by the caretaker government, have
officers with known sympathies for Jamaat and banned radical groups.
Datta said Islamist forces had "come to stay" in Bangladesh. "India
should recognize this reality," she said.
Dhar said Indian public opinion should differentiate between radical
Islamist groups and the Sufi saints, the latter being integral to
Bangladeshi culture. No political set-up could function without
invoking the blessings of the three Pirs - of Monjair Char,
Maijhbhandar and Sylhet. They don't approve radical Islam.
IANS
News of Jan
6, 2007
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