Let the election be held

The civil society leaders spoke out recently in a seminar on our national issues. They discussed about the prevailing situation in the country, especially, terrorism, election and democracy. They blamed the politicians of both the ruling and opposition parties for all the political crises and terrorist excesses. But we understand that these crises have been created by those who oppose the parliamentary election scheduled to be held on January 05, 2014. Begum Khalda Zia-led 18-Party Alliance has boycotted the election and vowed to foil it by hook or crook. The armed cadres of the opposition alliance have been creating nation-wide carnage to foil this election. The civil society leaders have, therefore, urged the government to cancel the election of January 05, 2014 and bring the 18-Party Alliance to the election. They thought by rescheduling the election the on-going country-wide mayhem created by the armed cadres of the 18-Party Alliance can be avoided. Thus a participatory, free, fair, transparent and acceptable election can be held with the full participation of all the opposition parties including BNP and its allies.
The civil society members made the suggestion only six days before the election. This is not only impractical but also impossible, constitutionally. The current elected government has its term only up to January 24, 2014. Within this timeframe an election must be held to maintain constitution continuity, otherwise, the government will become unconstitutional and there will be a constitutional vacuum. Practically speaking, it is too late to scrap the scheduled election of January 05, 2014.
There is no guarantee that the 18-Party Alliance would join the election if the election of January 05 is rescheduled and held after 90 days. The people can hope for the best, but what will happen if the opposition does not come on board to participate in the election? Then the same situation will arise again. The Election Commission has to hold the election without the participation of the opposition parties. Can the civil society give any guarantee that if the election is rescheduled, the BNP-led opposition will fully participate in the election? Since there is no guaranteed participation of the opposition even though the election is rescheduled for another 90 days, the election will be boxed within the 90-day frame. Therefore, the very prescription of scraping the current election schedule and rescheduling for 90 days is impractical. On the other hand, if the election of January 05 is allowed to be held, then there will be no time constraint for a fruitful negotiation between the ruling and opposition parties. This will give the parties enough time for holding discussions in finding a suitable permanent solution to the structure of the election-time government that can be acceptable to all, nationally and internationally.
It can be mentioned here that the government and the ruling parties tried to negotiate with the opposition. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina spoke to Begum Khaleda Zia, the Opposition Leader, over telephone. She invited Begum Zia to a dinner-meeting for discussing the issues of holding an acceptable election. The international community also tried to mediate and bring Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia to a negotiating table. Unfortunately, no initiative was successful to get the two leaders sit together.
The phone calls from US Secretary of State, UN Secretary General, and visits of US and British Deputy Secretary of State and Indian Foreign Secretary and their meetings with both leaders did not produce any fruitful result.  The UN Deputy Secretary General and special representative of the UN Secretary General Mr. Oscar Fernandez Taranko spent about 10 days in Bangladesh and had meetings back and forth with both the leaders, the Prime Minister and Opposition leader as well as with other leaders of both the ruling and opposition parties. But no tangible progress was made.
The country is now going through a serious chaotic period. The cadres of the Jamaat-Shibir, in collaboration with the outlawed Islamic terrorist group Hijbut Tahir and their suicidal squads are out on the streets. They have created a reign of terror.  They have been throwing  hand bombs, petrol bombs, cocktails, gun powder, gasoline, petroleum, stones, bricks, etc. on the streets, buses, trucks, cars, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and all passenger and cargo vehicles. They burnt and killed innocent poor people and cattle and burnt all sorts of vehicles, offices, businesses, houses, industries and worship places indiscriminately. They felled thousands of trees and blocked the highways for enforcing the blockades. There is no safety and security of life, and private and public properties. The worst victims of this reign of terror are the innocent people who are mostly the children, women, and poor people. They cannot go out to work and earn their livelihood. The businesses and industries have been slowed down. The sufferings of the daily commuters are inhuman and beyond imagination.
The 18-Party Alliance should immediately stop the violent movement, killing people and destroying private and public properties. They should allow the government to uphold the constitutional obligation by holding the election of January 05, 2014. After the election is held the opposition parties, the civil society and the people of all walks of life as well as our foreign friends, donors and United Nations can demand a dialogue with the government for finding a permanent solution for the structure of the election-time government so that such type of violence during national elections does not occur again. People want to see that there will be no bloodshed in any future election and all the major political parties of the country will participate in the national and local elections without any complaints.
 Dr. Mohsin Ali lives in New York. He is in Bangladesh now. [email protected]