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The problem lies in the ongoing practices of political groups in the country. For example, ruling party groups have attacked their political rivals – mostly candidates who lost in the recent elections – in many parts of the country. According to the Bangladeshi media, around 12 persons have been killed and many injured in post-election violence.
The main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has blamed the attacks on the election winner, the Awami League, and its activists. It claims that most of the dead and injured are BNP members. However, there are different versions of the story and different claims.
Bangladeshi police officers, in keeping with traditional practices in the country, have allegedly partnered with ruling party leaders to cover up these incidents instead of conducting impartial investigations into them.
The Bangladesh Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League, has reportedly ordered rival students at various schools, including Dhaka University, to vacate their dormitories – including any suspected of supporting the BNP's student wing, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
Immediately after winning the elections Awami League leaders, including party chief Sheikh Hasina, asked party activists to maintain peace and avoid violence. But in reality, despite repeated warnings, the same type of violence is still continuing as in the past.
Failing to stop the aggressive actions of student activists, the vice chancellor of Dhaka University offered his resignation. A number of vice chancellors at other universities are also following suit.
Another issue concerns pledges made by Awami League leaders before the election and subsequent pressures from the opposition BNP to fulfill them. During the election campaign, Hasina and her party activists promised to reduce the price of rice to 10 takas (US 14 cents) per kilogram, distribute free fertilizer to farmers and provide employment to at least one member of each family.
Such pledges and statements were broadcast on local television channels and published in the newspapers, some of which supported the party. However, none of these pledges were included in the Awami League’s official election manifesto.
After the landslide victory of the Awami League and its allies, winning 262 seats out of the 300 in the country's Parliament, opposition parties warned that they would agitate instead of cooperate with the government unless the alliance fulfilled its election promises.
Responding to the comments of BNP leaders, Syed Ashraful Islam – acting general secretary of the Awami League and newly appointed minister responsible for local governments, rural development and cooperatives – denied at a press conference that the pledges were propaganda. He claimed the party had made no pledges that were impossible to fulfill. However, videotaped speeches by Hasina and pre-election reports in the print media have exposed their election promises and pledges.
In the given situation, where ruling party activists keep up the old practice of attacking their political opponents, ousting students from university dormitories and denying pledges by their top-level leaders, it is hard to predict the future of Bangladesh. Observers doubt that stability can be maintained in the democratic process.
The newly elected government should immediately take the initiative so the political situation does not deteriorate in the country. It should form independent judicial committees to investigate incidents of political violence and prosecute the perpetrators regardless of their political identities. Political authorities should keep their party activists from interfering in criminal investigations and prosecutorial matters.
The government should ensure peace on university campuses for the sake of the country's democratic system. This should be prioritized, as historically students have triggered agitation and protests against the failures of previous governments.
Ruling party leaders should not deny their own pledges, especially when records are available. Instead, they should take the initiative to fulfill their pledges in the best interests of the people. Failure to do so could result in losing the people’s support in future elections.
Also, by respecting the views of opposition parties, ruling party leaders can at least help the democratic process survive. The opposition should also act responsibly and not resort to violence and demonstrations as in the past.
Bangladeshis are tired of rude and violent political action on the streets. It is time to be constructive and seek peaceful solutions.
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(Rater Zonaki is the pseudonym of a human rights defender based in Hong Kong working at the Asian Human Rights Commission. He is a Bangladeshi national with a degree in literature from a university in Dhaka. He began his career as a journalist in 1990 and engaged in human rights activism at the grassroots level in his country for more than a decade. He also worked as an editor for publications on human rights and socio-cultural issues and contributed to other similar publications.)
