Defiant Ershad in a sticky stew

Upsetting the government plan to hold the polls on January 5, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday asked his party’s parliamentary aspirants to withdraw nomination papers, and directed his party lawmakers to resign from the polls-time cabinet.
“This election will in no way be credible since all political parties are not contesting it. There is no question of [the Jatiya Party] taking part in the polls. I will not participate in this election even if it costs me my life,” Ershad said after announcing his party’s latest stance on the January 5 election.
Asked whether he feared arrests in the pending cases against him, Ershad said, “I am no longer scared of imprisonment. Though I am old, I am ready to go to jail.”
In reply to a query whether he would stick to his decision, the JP chief said, “These are my last words … last words … [I] will not contest this election.”
When Ershad’s attention was drawn to the public perception of his u-turn, the former military dictator said, “This time I will prove my words right to countrymen. I will not flip-flop anymore.”
Meanwhile, Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, also JP secretary general, said all JP ministers would resign from the Hasina-led interim cabinet today.
Before making his decision public at a brief news conference, Ershad held a meeting with visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh, who, according to Ershad, requested him to contest the polls to thwart the rise of militants and fundamentalist groups.
“Sujatha Singh said if any other party is voted to power, the Jamaat-e-Islami will rise. Do you want this?” said Ershad.
“I told her that I also fear so. If the Jamaat and militant groups rise, the onus will lie on the government since it is responsible for the present situation.”
Jamaat, a key component of the BNP-led 18-party alliance, has resorted to violence in different parts of the country since February to foil the war crimes trial against some of its top leaders.
The anti-liberation force has also been playing a key role in the ongoing violent street agitation to foil the general election under the government led by Sheikh Hasina.
Immediately after Ershad’s announcement last evening, more than three hundred law enforcers, mostly Rab members, cordoned off his residence at Baridhara, leading to speculation that Ershad might be detained any moment.
However, Kismat Hayat, commander of Rab-1, said the law enforcers were deployed there to ensure Ershad’s security. After meeting Ershad at his residence, the officer told reporters that the former president was satisfied with the security arrangements.
The JP chairman’s latest decision will make it more difficult for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to overcome the hurdle in holding the polls amid boycott by the BNP-led opposition, say political analysts.
They predict that all government efforts may go in vain if the JP finally stays away from the polls.
On February 15, 1996, the BNP-led government held a one-sided election, which was boycotted by the AL, the JP, the Jamaat and other parties. The election lacked credibility and the new parliament lasted for just two weeks.
Towards the end of the tenure of the last BNP-led government, the BNP tried hard to include the JP in its alliance, and Ershad was acquitted in several cases. But finally, Ershad didn’t join the BNP-led alliance, as his demands were not met in full.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, several JP leaders, including its lawmakers Majibur Rahman, AKM Mayeedul Islam and Hafizuddin Ahmed, said they think the January 5 election should not be held.
If a one-sided election is held, it would escalate violence in the country, and jeopardise the security of people as well as the party leaders and supporters, according to them.
The JP leaders said they had told the party chief that the situation was getting out of their control and they would not be able to carry out electioneering amid such violent situation. Some of them even failed to file nomination papers by the deadline which expired on Monday.
Lauding Ershad’s announcement, they said the latest decision brought them relief in this stifling and violent political situation. And it wouldn’t be possible for the government to hold the polls following the JP’s withdrawal from the electoral race.
The recent developments over the JP’s participation in the coming polls happened very fast and in a dramatic way.
According to an arrangement with the ruling Awami League, Ershad-led JP quit the AL-led grand alliance on November 18 to contest the next polls independently and emerge as the main opposition party in the new parliament.
Hasina included five JP leaders in her cabinet and appointed another as her adviser the same day. She also kept in her cabinet the JP minister inducted into her government in January 2009.
She did it all to please Ershad, who was ousted from power through a mass uprising on December 6, 1990.
Though Ershad’s party men filed more than 260 nomination papers by Monday to contest the polls, the JP chief all of a sudden on Tuesday told journalists that his party wouldn’t contest the January 5 polls for the absence of an atmosphere for an inclusive election.