A person sitting on the political fence will probably agree with the attestation that the hartal, especially the way it is imposed on the people these days is by no means a democratic deed. Burning an auto-rickshaw driver to death is certainly not a democratic exercise by any means. Other than Bangladesh, and a few instances in neighbouring India, this political culture is probably not prevalent in any other part of the world. The question is why does it happen in Bangladesh? It is, in fact, an act of desperation on the part of the opposition parties to ventilate their grievances against the wrong doings of the government. In a parliamentary democracy, the parliament is supposed to be the principal forum where opposition should raise its voice pointing to the misrule of the government. Over the last ten years, prior to the assumption of power by the current alliance government, both the government and the opposition had to share more or less equally their responsibilities in making the parliament ineffective.

The stalemate, on the other hand, in the current parliament is a matter the onus of which rests with the government; the opposition has very little part in it. Since assumption of power, political persecution, denial of established democratic rights, shattered credibility of the government leaders and non-existence of accountability have become the rule of the day. One of these mayhems of political persecution happened only the other day in a village of Natore where scores of ordinary opposition supporters' houses were burnt by the ruling party hooligans under the pretext that they were involved in the killing of a deputy minister's nephew. The concerned deputy minister publicly justified the atrocities, since, in his judgement, the victims were involved in the killing of his nephew.

Denial of the established rights, be it inside parliament or outside on the street, even for absolutely apolitical groups, has become the source of all evils. The main opposition got more share of the popular votes than the main ruling component in the last three successive general elections. In the last general election, the party alone got 41% of the votes, which in a proportional representation (as in Italy) would give them more seats in the parliament than the BNP. Nevertheless, time and again, their right to speak in the House has been unfairly denied by the Speaker. Even the microphone of the leader of the opposition was switched off, a phenomenon unheard off in the rules of procedures of the parliament anywhere in the world. It was alleged that not a single question from the opposition bench was ever entertained in the Prime Minister's question-and-answer sessions in the parliament. Is the PM supposed to answer the questions from the opposition members or from her party's sycophants? No electronic media is permitted to cover the news conference of the opposition members inside the House. In which forum would the opposition keep the people informed about its stance vis-à -vis the poor governance of the government? The state media is absolutely under the control of government where no trace of news of the opposition (except to demean them) makes its way.

The recent denial of the leader of the opposition to drive through the cantonment and her intended visit to the CMH to see the critically wounded Dr. Humayun Azad has no excuse, no matter what pretext the government propaganda machinery might have given out. The leader of the opposition was also a PM for five years, in which capacity she had under her disposal, all our national secrets. How in the world the same person's presence in the cantonment could jeopardise the secrecy of the cantonment is beyond any normal human being's comprehension. She might not have been allowed to enter the intensive care unit, as reportedly suggested by the treating surgeons, what hell would it bent if she was allowed inside the hospital premises? This is not the end of the story. A legal case has been initiated against the leader of the opposition and former PM for unlawfully entering in the premises of the cantonment. A great democratic posture of the government indeed!

Credibility of the government leaders, starting with the PM has been absolutely shattered. In line with all her earlier accusations that the opposition is killing its own people to destabilise the government, she has squarely pointed her finger towards the main opposition for the heinous attack on Dr. Azad, an ideological ally of the opposition and beacon for upholding the values of our war of liberation.

The merciless attack on the protesting Dhaka university students and the journalists by the police and the supporters of the student wing of the BNP is a grim reminiscence of what happened in the aftermath of the Shamsunnahar Hall tragedy. The brutalities of the law enforcing agencies have become the order of the day. Good sense of the government has taken the back seat, once and for all. What option are the opposition political parties left out with to protest the heavy-handed behaviour of the government? Denial of the fundamental democratic rights only gives rise to resorting to undemocratic means such as hartal, as is being imposed in most instances.

Dr. Mozammel H. Khan is a Professor and the Head of Mechanical Engineering and Quality Engineering Departments of Sheridan Institute of Technology, Oakville, Ontario, Canada