Same old AL-BNP rivalry dashing people's hope for peace & prosperity

By M. Al-Amin
 

In the present state of politics, the ruling party leaders are blaming the Awami League for capitalizing on the Kibria killing and using it to postpone the SAARC summit in connivance with India which had played the tramp card of security alarm for dumping the much awaited regional carnival of South Asian leaders.

At the last moment Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has declined to attend the SAARC summit by raising lame excuse of security concern and Nepali political crisis though Nepali King himself had agreed to attend the summit despite trouble at home. This ultimately forced Dhaka to postpone the summit despite all the preparations which incurred Bangladesh a huge loss, both economically and image wise.

Though in reality overall security situation has improved a lot after the launching of some special and controversial forces like Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Cheetah, Cobra which are out in the field with their crime basing missions. A significant number of criminals were killed in crossfire with these special forces raising alarm by human rights organizations terming those crossfire as extrajudicial killing.

Government in the face of increasing incidents of political killing and bomb attacks was forced to take extra-ordinary steps and deployed these forces to get real tough with criminals and contain crimes with iron fist. With attacks like Ramna Batamul blast on Pahela Baishakh programme, August 21, 2004 grenade attacks on Awami League's rally in Dhaka killing 23 people including one of top AL leaders Ivy Rahman, grenade attacks on Bangladeshi born British envoy Anwar Chowdhury in Sylhet shrine, grenade blasts in former minister Shah AMS Kibria's political rally in Habijang and bomb attack on Khulna press club - the government was under tremendous donors' pressure to improve in law and order front and make people's life safe and improve governance.

Indian media blitz and constant campaign alleging militant camps inside Bangladesh and the rise of fundamentalist forces here have made the country an attractive hotcake for Western media which has launched a crusade against Islamic fundamentalism and is doing a proxy war in Muslims dominant countries.

Moreover terror activities in the country's wild southwestern and northern region by outlawed groups, manifesting leftist agenda, and their counter force in north Jagrata Muslim Janata of much talked "Bangla Bhai" have made the country a hot story bed for Western media. They are projecting it as a breeding ground of terrors and another Talibanized state in the making by their drawn-out conclusion putting focus wrongly on Madrassas and religious education. The Western media is thus painting a wrong and gloomy picture of the country under the grip of religious fanatics and terror groups like Afghanistan during the Gulf War era just after the September 11 incident.

And this particular "Bangla Bhai" saga and his alleged link with government high-ups are giving a wrong signal to the foreign investors who are showing their back to the nation and shying away to other potential countries having political stability and cheap labour force like Vietnam to do business.

But Kibria killing once again made the government voice blunt as they have once again failed to secure the life of even a top politician sparking off a tremendous international condemnation and concern that how dangerously people are living in this country.

In domestic front the increasing incidents of grenade attacks and Kibria killing have set a new tone to the political culture of confrontation with two top party leaders having no speaking terms even. After the killing, Awami League has intensified its anti-government road shows with repeated bouts of 60-hour, 36-hour hartals.

In organizational drive the ruling party has launched its grass-root-level conference of union parishad leaders to prepare party activists for the next general election and keep its popular base intact.

In counter road shows BNP held a grand rally in the capital city against opposition agitation and politics of hartal which was marred by AL-BNP clash in Karimganj upazila in Kishoreganj where an AL worker was killed during clashes prompting AL to slap shutdowns there.

Confrontation and rivalry between the two fronts are getting so worse that now the lower orders and mid ranking leaders are getting involved in the war of wards and blame shifting game of criminalized politics in practice today and spreading the hatred in the country and society and planting the seeds of division with greater risk of escalating violence.

Both the government and opposition parties took hardline in their political programmes amid rival road shows and opposition slapping repeated hartals while political killing and clashes between ruling alliance workers and opposition activists, even in some rural areas these days.

Since both the parties have popular base and a huge number of followers, the risk of violence is showing its potentiality with escalated mud slinging taking the course of violent clashes and ultimately dashing the hopes of striking a national consensus for resolving major problems of the country and its people.

Irresponsible utterances by leaders, their shameless propaganda, smelling rats in everything and the seeing conspiracy in every acts of each other are actually heading both the key political players towards the point of no return and dashing the hopes of economic freedom of the nation riddled with poverty.

But none of the two key players are considering the impact of their rivalry on the national life and the beneficiary factor as their confrontation making moderate, non partisan people to shun and about-faced to politics and actually strengthening the hands of fundamentalist and anti-liberation forces.

The recent rise of fundamentalist forces and their activities in northern region and acts of extrajudicial killing in the hands of law enforcers are attracting Western media coverage which are projecting wrongly the country as a no-go zone and this is quite alarming as these propaganda machines are dashing the future trade and investment prospects like Tata's huge investment which could be jeopardize by political unrest.

Aszad Hossain Khan, a young, brilliant web designer talking about the insecurity and mudslinging of BNP-AL said "actually the 2 major parties are creating ground and gains for fundamentalist forces like Jamaat and other forces who are out to cripple our rich cultural heritage as their first step to cement position in the power politics."

Firoz Ahmed, another young talent and a rising businessman, said "it is impossible to do business here with frequent hartals and political unrest."

But unfortunately assailants behind all those bloody attacks remained out of reach of the law of the land and no investigation brought to light the political or other identity of the attackers which is quite frustrating.

As no attackers so far prosecuted or punished, the attacks on political rallies and public gathering go on and making living dangerous with no security guarantee as anything can happen at any time and even the country's top political leaders are not save now.

All these indicates the failure of rule of law, law enforcing agencies and of course the government. As a result, all-pervading violence taking deep root threatening our traditional peaceful society, culture and most of all the peaceful image of the country.

In economic front, the political violence and unrest with frequent hartals are taking deadly toll on the economy with both long and short term impacts on development efforts and economic lifeline of the nation that remained trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty since its independence.

All these prevailing rivalry, chaos and anarchy of mainstream parties are not just handicapping the economy and its growth, but also making room for undemocratic, religious fanatics and other subversive forces to gain control of the power base with their links to criminalize and corrupt politics. This factor is in reality sidelining the moderate politicians and forces and driving young generations to settle abroad as they are fade up with corrupt politicians and politics.

The young professionals and talented fresh bloods are worried about the future of the country, but at the same time they are not interested in any way to help mend the all-errant politics by taking leadership.

As a result the right and talented people are migrating for high and secure life abroad leaving their beloved country to bleed in the hands of extremists, unpatriotic and anti-liberation forces who are amassing money and power by just doing mindless politics as the best business.