Govt faces series of setbacks in its move to mend ‘corrupt politics’
 

A plan by Bangladesh's emergency government to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt and dysfunctional politics once and for all has been hit by a series of setbacks, analysts said.   The military-backed government, which took power in January, had pledged to push through a string of reforms to put democracy back on track before holding elections by the end of 2008. But efforts to exile former premiers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina -- whose bitter rivalry has been blamed for plunging the country into political chaos -- appear to have been abandoned.

In addition, Nobel peace prize winner and microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus announced last Thursday that lack of support had forced him to pull out of a plan to create a new corruption-free political party.

The government now faces the prospect of trying to reshape Bangladesh politics without any obvious challenger to former premiers Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, who held power alternately since 1991.

"These two women are largely responsible (for the emergency). If they were not so obstinate and had been able to settle their differences we would not be in this situation," said leftist intellectual and commentator Badruddin Omar.

"The government cannot throw them out and they cannot work with them (Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina)," he added.

Khaleda Zia, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had reportedly agreed to leave the country for exile in Saudi Arabia in return for leniency for her two sons, who face corruption allegations.

After days of mounting speculation, however, the government lifted the virtual house arrest imposed on Khaleda Zia and denied it had tried to force her out.

Meanwhile Sheikh Hasina, leader of the Awami League, saw a ban on her returning to the country lifted.

A warrant for her arrest on murder charges was also withdrawn, although it was not clear if it would be reissued if she returns as planned on Monday.

Omar said he believed the powers behind the military-backed interim government also intended to try to form a political party.

But he warned that they too would find it difficult to draw support away from the two main parties in the deeply politically polarised country.

"Yunus thought that it would be easy but found that it was not. The present government also thinks it can form a party," he added.

He warned that the government could lose the popularity generated by its corruption crackdown on the political elite.

"They are starting to become unpopular because they have been unable to control prices. They are doing some good things but also some unpopular things such as driving hawkers off the streets and letting small businessmen get caught up in the demolition drives against big criminals," he said.

Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, each members of rival Bangladeshi dynasties that have dominated politics for more than three decades, stand accused of misrule that led to the imposition of emergency rule in January.

President Iajuddin Ahmed declared the emergency, cancelled elections and resigned as head of the previous interim government on January 11 after months of unrest over opposition Awami League allegations of poll rigging by the BNP.

Asif Nazrul, a Dhaka university law professor, said he expected the government would continue to pressure Zia and Sheikh Hasina to leave.

But he said its inability to exile the two women had to be placed in context alongside its successful anti-graft reforms.

"Viewed in terms of the totality of what the government has done it has not failed and in my view it can regain the ground it has lost," he said.

Events leading up to the emergency are widely seen as having been orchestrated by the military, which acted after the UN threatened it with the loss of its lucrative and prestigious peacekeeping duties if flawed elections went ahead.

The day after the emergency was declared, former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed was installed as head of a new caretaker government.

Another commentator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government had been "chastened" by the failure of its exile plan.

The analyst said, however, that it was only likely to be viewed as a setback by hardliners in the military.
"You have various factions within the government and army and I think that because of the failure of the exile plan we will see Fakhruddin asserting himself more," he said.

--AFP