Editorial
Time for govt, Election Commission
to pause and ponder
The legal notice, issued by the detained BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, to the Election Commission, asking for withdrawal of its invitation to M Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, who was appointed acting secretary general at an eminently controversial meeting of the BNP standing committee, which also made Saifur Rahman the acting chairman, effectively nullifies the effort by the Saifur-Hafiz faction to create the impression that it enjoys Khaleda’s blessings and is, therefore, the mainstream BNP. The notice, endorses as it does Khandaker Delwar Hossain’s claim that he has Khaleda’s support, also poses a legitimacy crisis for the Saifur-Hafiz faction in the public in general and the party’s rank and file in particular. Crucially still, the faction stands exposed in the public eye as a part, if not a product, of the military-driven interim government’s scheme to politically neutralise Khaleda.
Alarmingly, however, neither the government nor the Saifur-Hafiz faction appears daunted by such a decisive turn of event. The faction has already been afforded the right to use the BNP central office, which it exercised gleefully on Wednesday, albeit in the presence of an elaborate security blanket provided by the state’s law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. The security blanket did avert a showdown between the followers of the government-orchestrated and the Khaleda-backed factions of the BNP for the time being, although clashes between the two groups still remain a distinct possibility.
Overall, and we note this with grave concern, the interim government is following to the letter the script, developed and enacted by authoritarian regimes during military rules in the country, of imposing pliant leadership on one major political party or the other, in an effort to reconstructing the political order. History tells us that such attempts never succeed but take a huge toll on the political process nonetheless. Moreover, the government’s persistence with such a detrimental political project runs counter to the pledge it made upon its assumption of office in January to create a level playing field for the political establishments in the run-up to the general elections and will further erode whatever faith the public still has in it. Consequently, all its actions and inactions will remain questionable.
The Election Commission has, meanwhile, made the situation even more complicated by becoming party to the political crime that is being perpetrated. We have already indicated in these columns that the chief election commissioner may have inexorably damaged his and the commission’s credibility by first inviting Hafiz to the reforms dialogue and then unabashedly defending the decision. On top of it, comes the decision to take legal recourse to Khaleda’s notice, which would no doubt put the entire electoral process into question. Thus far, the commission has, through a series of questionable actions, appeared to be toeing the line of the government, which is contrary to the people’s expectations for it to be independent.
In the final analysis, the interim government seems to have put the country in a greater political and legal mess than it was in prior to January 11. The government can still get the country back from the brink of sustained political uncertainty by moving away from its political projects. The Election Commission, on the other hand, should rethink its position and play a proactive role so that the political parties can be democratised under their existing leadership.
Geeteara’s Nizami syndrome
The desperation and insecurity of farmers surrounding the unavailability of fertiliser has featured prominently in the media, both national and international, over the past few days. There have also been clashes between farmers and officials of the agriculture department at different places in the country. Even on Tuesday, farmers broke into a warehouse in Rajbari, beat up government officials and took away fertiliser. Still, the industries adviser to the military-driven interim government, Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury, is not convinced of an ongoing crisis of fertiliser, which she claims, is a myth created by the media. It reminds us of the claim of Motiur Rahman Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and then a minister of the BNP-led alliance government, that there were no militant Islamists in Bangladesh and that the reports on militants preparing to carry out terrorist strikes in the country were just media hype. Eventually, he was proved wrong and the media right, but not before the country had paid dearly for such nonchalance.
Even if we were to accept Geeteara’s claim that there is a sufficient stock of fertiliser as true, it still does not absolve the government of its abject failure in ensuring timely distribution of fertiliser to the districts and sub-districts. Also, she seems to have completely missed the point that the obvious lack of coordination within the distribution system is also the responsibility of the relevant ministry. It is not enough to have sufficient stocks of fertiliser and that it is also equally important that the fertiliser reaches the doorsteps of the farmers. It appears evident from Geeteara’s statements that she may have failed to take the farmers’ desperation over unavailability of fertiliser into cognisance. Such a lack of perspective is typical of members of an apolitical government who not only have little idea of the realities on the ground but are also removed from the masses.
We urge the government, especially its relevant departments, to wake up from hibernation and immediately initiate appropriate measures to ensure proper distribution of fertilisers among the farmers. Inaction now would not only hurt the farmers but also affect the entire economy since it concerns food production for which there is much demand in Bangladesh right now. We also urge the incumbents not to blame the media for its objective reports but instead take lessons from it and act accordingly. Otherwise, the claim of the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, claim that media plays the role of a parliament in its absence will be mere rhetoric.
Escalating violence in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka must not slip into the status of a failed state. Its stability is vital for the entire South Asia region. With the impressive progress it had achieved in years past in the social sector, it could have set an example for the developing countries. Unfortunately, statesmanship by critical forces at critical times was wanting, writes Zakeria Shirazi
Napoleon occupied Moscow and thought he had defeated Russia. Military victory does not always amount to victory. Perhaps this is even more true when the adversary is not a national army but guerrillas. The present government of the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is exulting in his successful campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the eastern province of Sri Lanka. But there is difference of opinion within his own government over his strategy.
It cannot be disputed that the LTTE have been ousted from the strong base in the east. Last July, after 13 months of relentless military campaign, the Tigers were driven out from their base in the east. The fiercest battle was fought in the base of Thoppigala, an isolated forested terrain. The LTTE claimed they have only withdrawn. For the first time since 1993 the eastern province is completely under government control. The eastern province is a large swath measuring about 16 per cent of the country’s land area and has a developed infrastructure with its three airports and a long coastline. But what can potentially give greater substance to the military victory is the speculation that the eastern province has oil trapped underneath.
A victory has meaning only of it opens the door to a durable peace. What happened was that the routing of the LTTE from the eastern province was followed by escalation of the fighting and targeted killing of top leaders. On July 16, five days after the proclaimed military victory in the eastern province, the chief secretary of the government was gunned down. On its part, the government in a major strike against the rebels killed their political chief and top peace negotiator SP Thamilselvan. Thamilselvan is the highest ranking rebel to be killed. He had led a peace negotiation team at the talks with the Sri Lankan government that was hosted by Switzerland. While peace talks were on Sri Lankan air force had several times ferried him from rebel territory to the international airport to enable him to attend the talks. Now the Sri Lankan military has gone on a head hunt for the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. This targeted killing of top leaders also points to a similarity with the US-led war in Iraq, and even to a greater degree the Israeli attack on Palestinians.
The prospect of peace dimmed after the government of Rajapaksa, which won the 2005 presidential election, adopted hawkish policies towards the rebels and seemed to opt for military solution as the only solution. And it is sticking to this solution heedless of saner exhortations. The government has vowed to continue hitting LTTE leaders with air strikes to terrorise the rebels into submission. It seems to forget that if the tactics is terror then those it calls terrorists are far more adept at it. The bellicosity of the president is not very different from the sinister war cry of ‘shock and awe.’ Unveiling his biggest war budget of $1.4 billion, Rajapaksa declared, ‘It is essential to completely wipe out separatist rebels.’
Within his government some think that it is wrong to celebrate the victory in the eastern province in a spirit that seems to brand the LTTE as a conquered people. As post and telecommunications minister Rauff Hakeem lamented, civilized human beings should celebrate the end of wars and not wars. The celebration and the rhetoric will only lend strength to the LTTE’s ideological position. As a Colombo-based commentator writing in New Age says, the shock and awe type of air strike by sophisticated bomber aircraft of the Sri Lankan air force deep into LTTE-controlled territory and the precise nature of the targeting that killed SP Thamilselvan may go to firm up the belief in the viability of military solution. The commentator goes on, ‘At the same time that the BBC reported the news of Thamilselvan’s killing it also reported that an Israeli air strike in the Gaza strip killed a Hamas leader. For several years now the Israeli government has been targeting Palestinian militants with deadly effect, eliminating a large number of them. But the conflict in Palestine does not seem to be getting resolved. Although some of those killings seemed very significant at the time they took place, none of them has led to any solution to the conflict apart from generating more hatred and determination to retaliate and fight back.’
Bellicose leaders are wont to neglect the domestic front. The people of Sri Lanka may be happy that the eastern province has been freed of rebels but they are in no mood to celebrate. In every instance when the war machine grinds louder, people’s sufferings grow more intense. More guns for the military mean less butter for the people. Tourism which is a major income earner is declining. Inflation is running at 21 per cent.
Signalling a major escalation of the fighting, the rebels last March launched their first-ever air strike. This took the government forces by surprise. It bombed Sri Lanka’s main military base in a daring night-time mission leaving 3 Sri Lankan airmen killed and 16 injured. Sri Lanka’s supersonic jets were parked in that base. This forced closure of Sri Lanka’s main airport. The LTTE has thus become the world’s first guerrilla outfit with its own air force. As one commentator said, the Tigers are down but not out. Mahinda called this new capability of the rebels a security risk not only for Sri Lanka but also for other nations. We would say that if Mahinda realises that he shares security problem with other countries then he should also heed the opinions of other countries, of the world in short.
Meanwhile the government is finding it difficult to hide its increasingly tarnished human rights record. The UN high commissioner for human right, Louse Arbour, who visited Sri Lanka last year was constantly shadowed by government machinery and not allowed to visit Kilinochchi, the administrative of the LTTE. The government exhibited the naked bodies of two LTTE suicide attackers. Such atrocities are rampant.
The Norway-brokered truce arranged in 2002 is now forgotten. Another move was taken by Norway in 2006 which too fell through in March 2007. It looks as if both sides have lost faith in negotiations.
The World Bank has listed Sri Lanka as one of the most politically unstable governments of the world. The Economist calls Sri Lanka a flawed democracy. From regional perspective we cannot remain unmoved by the escalating violence and killings, and the fact that a series of peace initiatives are being frittered away. The peace journey can still be resumed from the point it was left off. Catholic priests have also taken a move to promote peace. But such private efforts will have to be backed by an enabling government attitude. Sri Lanka must not slip into the status of a failed state. Its stability is vital for the entire South Asia region. With the impressive progress it had achieved in years past in the social sector, it could have set an example for the developing countries. Unfortunately, statesmanship by critical forces at critical times was wanting.
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