Stemming politics of violence

The present government must not be under any illusion that through its sheer arrogance and exploiting the religious sentiment of God-fearing semi-literate or illiterate population

in the national election would enable it to prolong its period of remaining in power. It may take some lesson from the experience of Indian Congress in West Bengal. During the last 27 years the Congress party could not make much headway in West Bengal despite various tricks played by the central government on the state government and though the left parties continue to support Congress party at the centre. Politics is compromise and adjustment. We do not know as to when our major political parties will realise this truth.

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It would be wrong to put all the blames on the present government for emergence of the so-called Islami militant. Tempering of the constitution to give it an Islamic look presented the Islami fundamentalists the unique opportunity to review their power. Ershad regime allowed opportunity to the fundamentalists to prolong his grip of power. Similar thinking is seen now to an extent though during the first term of Khaleda Zia the fundamentalists could not flourish. The regime of Hasina almost failed to realise the danger of emergence of militancy. Perhaps it concentrated more on 'controlling' BNP and at the same time maintaining some relationship with the Jamaat so that it can maintain an image of a party not hostile to Islami parties. Thus it would be the only option for Khaleda Zia to consult closely with Ershad and Hasina to control the militants. But her liking for a controlled dialogue with these leaders cannot solve this problem.

We must not overlook the fact that pro-Islami parties may not be large but they are certainly more organised and disciplined than other bigger parties in Bangladesh. There is no denying the fact that a disciplined small army is more effective than a large indisciplined one. Thus it would be advisable for any big political party in Bangladesh to deal with the pro-Islami parties carefully. For instance, the majority of the Muslims in Bangladesh may not believe in the principles of Jamaat but they may have some soft-corner for the JIs. This does not mean that any sane Muslim in Bangladesh will support say repression of non-Muslims. If not prompted by the desire to grab property of the minorities they do not bear any grudge for them. Sacrificing lives or fighting for say, the Talibans can only be done by those who believe that such act for the cause of Islam will ensure them of the heaven after death. They have little or no knowledge about the inner meaning of the Holy Quran. They hardly understand that sheer killing of commonmen or crippling of administration or causing loss to public property will not help them to establish Islamic rules. These people must be advised that this is a world of interdependence and we are in a global village. Economic supremacy is more important than mere religious sentiment. A poor least developed country like Bangladesh, overwhelmed by tremendous pressure of population can never flourish without adequate economic and technical support from the advanced world where Muslims do not constitute majority of the population. The actions of Osama bin Laden are regarded as terrorist activities. The Islami militants must be advised that if Bangladesh cannot solve its economic problems it will not only lag behind, but more problems will be created. Changing secular rules to Islamic rules without taking proper measures to eradicate poverty or to solve economic problems will bring misery to the lives of the commonmen.

Though Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country it is populated by more than 10 million people from the minority communities. Apart from that Bangladesh won independence (participated by both Muslims and non-Muslims) against a Muslim country. There is no doubt. That vast majority of Muslims in Bangladesh are secular in their outlook because without active support from the common men the freedom fighters would not have been successful against a large modern army of Pakistan. They may have deep sympathy for the suffering Muslims in the Middle East but they certainly do not like to bother either for establishing Islamic rules or Taliban type of regime in Bangladesh.

Demand of AL for dissociation with the JI may not be very important for BNP, what is important is to be careful about its association so that their image as a moderate party is not tarnished. We also see less possibility of stoppage of terrorist activities by the militants if any party other than BNP wins the next election. Only the well concerted joint effort of the major parties can control terrorist activities because unless terrorists are convinced that the majority of the people of Bangladesh do not appreciate their heinous crimes they may continue their activities. Our friendly developed countries, our donor agencies are rightly advising us to obtain consensus on controlling terrorism in Bangladesh. We hope days are not far when the major parties realise fully the need for mutual cooperation in controlling the destructive activities by Jamaat-e-Mujahedeen (JMB).

No state except Bhutan in the SAARC region is free from political violence. But the situation in Bangladesh is awful. It has reached a stage where no government, particularly a limping democratic government can bring back normal situation in the country.

However, this is only possible through formation of a national government based on consensus. Formation of such a government depends on the sincere initiative of the existing government. It is unfortunate that no such attempt has yet been made by the present government because it is bent upon completing its tenure. As it seems it wishes to win the next election through active and questionable support from the newly appointed CEC.

In the present situation we may see repetition of holding a national election similar to that of 1996 if not worse. How long a situation can continue and to what effect when a highly politicised corrupt administration is incapable of handling a crisis efficiently, when there prevails a sense of insecurity, when the people's representatives do not bother about the people? It is becoming increasingly clear that Bangladesh may face a very damaging consequence if the present situation continued. Our only hope is early realisation of this harsh truth. There is no time for long statements on political ideology or hero worship. We have to act quickly to save our freedom, our democracy and our country.

A B M S Zahur is a retired Joint Secretary.