‘2001 forced us to see
defects in the system’
Khadimul Islam interviews Abdul Jalil, the general secretary of the Awami League
New Age: In your electoral reforms proposal, your party has demanded that the armed forces be put under the command of the non-party caretaker government instead of the president during national polls. Do you really think that bringing the armed forces under the caretaker administration would help improve the quality of elections?
Abdul Jalil: Yes, we do. You see, the president of the republic is actually being elected by a political party — the majority party in parliament. In normal circumstances, the president does not enjoy any executive authority, as he is to function on the advice of the prime minister...[ + ]
‘1996 and 2001 proved no advantage for incumbents’
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury interviews Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, BNP standing committee member
New Age: Does the BNP have genuine political grounds in rejecting the opposition’s proposal for reforms to the non-party caretaker government system, or are your objections based merely on political egotism?
Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain: No, our differences on the issue are not due to political egotism. Certainly, there are some political reasons...[ + ]
‘Chief adviser should have same powers as prime minister’
Shahiduzzaman interviews Suranjit Sengupta, presidium member of the Awami League
New Age: You have proposed that the chief adviser of the caretaker government and the chief election commissioner be appointed upon consensus among all political parties. What will be the constitutional and legal framework for the selections?
Suranjit Sengupta: The country is in a severe crisis. We are in a confrontational political situation. All the institutions are being destroyed by politicisation. In fact, the nation is under an autocratic regime. The basic cause of these crises is lack of free and fair elections...[ + ]
‘Non-elected chief adviser not
equal to elected PM’
Shahiduzzaman interviews Moudud Ahmed, the law, justice and parliamentary
affairs minister
New Age: Do you see any constitutional or legal problems with the opposition proposal for amending the constitutional provision for the non-party caretaker government system?
Moudud Ahmed: The constitutional arrangement of having a non-party caretaker government to run the country during general elections is a settled issue accepted by all the political parties of the country. Under this system two general elections, one in 1996 and another in 2001, have been held peacefully. The Awami League won an election and the BNP-led alliance the other. The constitution is the fundamental law of the country and it cannot be changed to suit the conveniences and inconveniences of any party. Every time an election is held, the loser will then demand further amendment to the constitution and this would stand as precedence. Both the elections held in 1996 and 2001 under the present constitutional arrangement were more or less free and fair and accepted by the people at home and
abroad...[ + ]
‘BNP does no good unless
forced to do so’
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury interviews Rashed Khan Menon, the president of the Workers Party
New Age: Your party, as part of the opposition alliance, has proposed that the chief adviser of the caretaker government be chosen on consensus. What would be the mechanism to reach such a consensus be in a politically divisive society like ours?
Rashed Khan Menon: Divisive political culture did not stand in the way of reaching consensus on issues of national interest in the past. In 1990, all parties involved reached a consensus to establish the caretaker administration system after the fall of the autocratic regime. In 1996, the BNP government, led by Khaleda Zia, had to hold an election to get two-thirds majority in parliament to amend the constitution and introduce the caretaker system in the face of tough agitation by the opposition parties...[ + ]
‘We will consider proposal,
but only in JS’
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury interviews
Motiur Rahman Nizami, the amir of the
Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh
New Age: The Jamaat-e-Islami was a partner of the Awami League when you waged a movement in 1996 against the erstwhile BNP government to introduce the non-party caretaker government system for holding general elections. But this time as the Awami League and its allies have put forward a reforms proposal, you find yourself opposing the move…
Motiur Rahman Nizami: It was rather we, the Jamaat-e-Islami, who had originally floated the idea of the caretaker government, and later it became a national demand that was finally institutionalized by the thirteenth amendment to the constitution...[ + ]
‘Only reforms can help
perfect a system’
Khadimul Islam interviews Professor AK Azad Chowdhury, former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University and member of the AL advisory council
New Age: What are your views of the non-elected caretaker government system, which is essentially a suspension of democratic rule for the three months prior to national elections?
AK Azad Chowdhury: The concept of the caretaker government was developed in our country due to distrust among the political parties. Unfortunately, the severity of the distrust has intensified further in recent years. In Third World countries, especially in one like ours, the political culture is of criminal politics: our political leaders do not trust each other. When a political party cannot tolerate an opposite political view or fails to show respect to its opposition, how do you expect the people, who are less involved in politics, to have confidence that they will hold an election in a free and fair manner...[ + ]
‘Opposition demands call
for revolution not reforms’
Shahidul Islam Chowdhury interviews Professor M Ataur Rahman, the president of the Bangladesh Political Science Association
New Age: How do you evaluate the non-party caretaker government system from the point of view of democracy?
M Ataur Rahman: The caretaker government system was introduced as the nation wanted to hold general elections under a credible system. No other democratic country, except Bangladesh, has such a unique system of caretaker government. Three general elections have been held under the system without any major irregularity. Here credibility is the spirit...[ + ]
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