Making a mockery of democracy

There is nothing much in Khaleda Zia's politics that we find worthy of support. Her alliance with Jamaat - a party that publicly and actively opposed our Liberation War, and many of whose leaders have been found guilty of crimes against humanity - continues to alienate her and her party from freedom fighters, their families, and the rest of the citizenry who are proud to live in independent Bangladesh. Her dalliance with extremist forces further distances her from modernists among us. Simply put, there is nothing much in her legacy of either politics, governance or statecraft that is likely to generate spontaneous public support to put her back at the helm of Bangladesh's affairs.

However, if we believe in our constitution, if we believe that every citizen has a right to peaceful expression of his or her views, if we believe that right to dissent is an inalienable right of every citizen, if we believe that every legally constituted political party has the fundamental right to demonstrate, hold rallies and protest against the government of the day, then we cannot but support Khaleda Zia's right to exercise those freedoms and rights, and hold peaceful meetings.  We also have to protest the confinement of Khaleda Zia in her office, and the locking of the BNP office.  If a government is allowed to lock up opposition party offices then there cannot be multiparty politics in that country.

On the contrary, there are reasons to support Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and many of her government's policies. Her steadfastness against communal forces, her determined effort for power generation though at a huge and unnecessary cost, her focused attention on some major infrastructure building, her government's success in agriculture, education, and maintaining a steady overall economic growth opens up genuine scope for public support behind her government.

But her laudable economic success is becoming blurred, and her legitimate credit in holding the war crimes trial is overshadowed by her blatant abuse of state power in suppressing the BNP and denying its leader a minimum space for expressing her dissenting views. Her confinement in her party office, denying her the right to hold public meetings, and arresting BNP leaders on dubious charges, including the arrest of Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, are proving beyond a doubt that in today's Bangladesh fundamental rights as guaranteed by our constitution is in severe jeopardy. The way BNP's all activities have been suppressed, the way its leaders are being hounded, the way every rights of BNP activists are being denied - smacks nothing short of ruthless suppression of an opposition party. This cannot be democracy, even remotely.

While attempting to foil BNP's programmes, the fundamental rights of ordinary citizens have also been trampled in a manner as if we are under the domination of an alien power. The arbitrary suspension of inter-district buses - just so that BNP supporters cannot converge in the capital - robbed millions of citizens of their right to freedom of travel, right to work, right to trade, etc. While the government just celebrated its highly creditable success of distributing more than 32 crores free text books to children, yet it thought nothing of forcing their schools to remain closed just so that BNP could not hold its rally.

Obviously the prime minister does not have much respect for common people's common sense. While the police padlocked Khaleda Zia's office with her inside, the Awami League chief kept on claiming - echoed by the police - that the BNP chief was free to go home. Is her right to go home, the totality of her freedom? What about her right to go to her own party office or anywhere else she wishes? Why was there a lock in the first place? Can the police, without a court order, lock up the front gate of any citizen?

What is baffling is that the government itself brought the whole country to a standstill just to prevent the BNP from holding a rally in Dhaka. What would have happened if that rally was allowed to be held?  How many people would the BNP be able to mobilise? Given the disarray in which the party is in, and with so many of its leaders hiding or being on the run, it could not have been a large rally. Yet it was not allowed to be held, and we have not been told why?

As a media house we have to express our concern at the arrest of ETV Chairman Abdus Salam, on charges of pornography. The case in which he has been implicated was filed last November. In the FIR, four persons were accused which did not include him. The link between his sudden inclusion in that case, his dramatic early morning arrest, and many cable operators not carrying his channel after telecasting Tarique Rahman's press comments cannot be lost on us. We suspect that it is a media freedom issue, and express our serious concern at Salam's arrest, and the arm twisting of some cable operators not to transmit ETV.

It is our view that we are now facing a serious question of what sort of democracy we are living under. What is the status of our fundamental rights which were the most cherished goals of our fight against autocracy? The arbitrariness with which BNP leaders are being arrested, the recklessness with which pedestrians are being picked as BNP supporters, and the ease with which anyone can be detained by police - indicate the state of our personal freedom.  There is no protection if police wish to arrest anyone, because it can always be said he or she is a BNP supporter or was preparing to create chaos. In short an ordinary citizen is today totally at the mercy of the police.

As we stated at the outset, Sheikh Hasina's government has some economic success to its credit. These very successes are being put at risk unthinkingly by a mindless suppression of the opposition, which is making a mockery of our claim to be a democratic country. While we consider Khaleda Zia's call for non-stop blockade as reckless and harmful to the economy, yet our judgment is tempered by the fact that she was denied a permission to hold a peaceful rally in Gazipur on December 27, followed by another denial for the one at Suhrawardy Uddyan last Monday, and that she was wrongfully confined in her office and denied the right to attend her own rally.

In running the affairs of a state there are deeper issues of principles, of fundamental rights, of our constitution, of universal norms of governance, of rule of law, and most importantly,  of people's dream of living in a democratic society. This dream is now under serious threat. We feel compelled to register our protest.