|
Inside Bangladesh: Khaleda spurns Hasina’s peace talks offer |
 |
In Bangladesh, the leader of the main opposition party, BNP, Beguma Khaleda Zia has rejected the offer of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for a meeting to discuss the end to the crippling anti government strikes to force early elections. Begum Zia refused to talk to her when Hasina tried to speak on telephone. Khaleda, who leads an alliance of four Opposition parties demands immediate resignation of Prime Minister Hasina’s government and fresh elections in the country. Khaleda said on Dec 25 that her alliance is ready to end its absence from the national Parliament provided the right atmosphere is created. Her comments came a week after parliamentary speaker Humayun Rasheed Chowdhury sent a letter to the BNP asking it to end its boycott and join the millennium session of the 330 member house which starts on January 1. A BNP led four party alliance has refused to attend Parliament, elected in 1996 for a five year term claiming it is not being allowed to speak its mind on issues - a charge denied by the Speaker and the ruling Awami League. The Opposition is campaigning to oust the government and has said it would boycott the first parliamentary session of the new millennium. Hasina has repeatedly offered talks to settle the dispute but pledged to complete her five year term.
The coming together of Begum Zia, Gen Ershad, a former President who heads the Jatiya Party, Prof Golam Azam, Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami leader, and Maulana Azizul Hug and Mufti Fazlul Haq Aminee of the Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ) is seen as the ultimate and natural culmination of their political positions since they all believe in Islamisation of the state and share a strong anti-India view. In fact, their main charge against Sheikh Hasina is that she is appeasing India. Other charges are that the ruling party has resorted to terrorism, rigged by-elections and not allowed the Opposition to speak in parliament. But the fact is that the Opposition parties started boycotting the sessions from the day the seventh Jatiya Shangsad - parliament - began. But the polarization has also possibly started sharpening the feelings on the other side which believes in the secular and pro-liberation spirit, the spirit behind Bangladesh’s separation from Pakistan. Besides the Awami League, smaller left-leaning parties and groups too have become alarmed following the recent unity of fundamentalists and anti-liberation forces. For the last one year, the BNP and its partners have conducted what they termed the “One Point Movement” - to oust Sheikh Hasina from power through a mass movement. At the end of November, they formalized their alliance and issued a joint declaration asking the Government to quit and declare general elections under a neutral caretaker dispensation. The politics of agitation the Opposition has so far pursued to force the Government to step down was mainly concentrated on anti-government strikes which were arganised for days.
Of course, the Begum Khaleda-led front is most likely to emerge as an electoral alliance. But many political commentators do not agree with the calculation that the BNP-led alliance is certain to sweep the polls given the electoral arithmetic so far. They point out that the alliance is now almost entirely guided by political and religious extremists, many of whom are branded as pro-Pakistan. These elements will not find it easy to get popular mandate. The main Opposition BNP has also substantial number of leaders and workers who will never vote for the Jamaat-e-Islami of the Jatiya Party.
|
