Politics in Bangladesh: A Dilemma of
Quicksand
Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam
Preface
As a professor of Business how far do I know about
intrigue character of politics? We have been told that
people are political being but no-one has yet to explain
the extent of political practice in him may be detrimental
to humanity. As a human being, being committed to the
society I am a part of, I always understand that politics is
important at home, office and outside to bring about
qualitative changes in the society on one hand; on the
other hand, I have witnessed how an independent
country has become a playground of political
malpractice.
Except political activists, specially those belong to
Bangladesh Awami League(AL) and Bangladesh
Nationalist Party(BNP), common people are insecure;
these two parties are demonstrating their power to
claim lives; the more people one can kill, the more
powerful it can be. Constitution is testimony to
constitution of super-autocracy; for them it is valued
more than holy scriptures; it was made an authority to
give the position and the opposition to take the life of
people whenever they wish. In this booklet, I have tried
to see how political regime changed in name but not in
character.
Professor Syed Ahsanul Alam
Introduction
Bangladesh has been at the crossroads mainly because
of its politics and socio-economic divide. Bangabandhu
was not only a political leader but a towering moral
figure as well. His call for freedom inspired our people
to get ready to do what-so-ever the struggle for
liberation would want. What we understood to take the
final decision was that without the war of liberation had
no way. Our sacrifice was against the Pakistani politics
that intentionally, being more in population, exploited
us at all levels. We learnt that the politics was the West
Pakistan; our struggle was against exploitation,
disparity, discrimination, autocracy and illiteracy. These
were only things that prepared and instructed us to lay
down our lives. We finally defeated them and become
independent.
Forty three year after the independence what we have is
shattered dream of a democratic society that might
ensure a society free from the causes that drove us into
a bloody war of nine-month at the cost of three million
people’s death that of humiliation of thousands of our
mothers and sisters. Today we are frustrated, heat
broken; the nation has been at the deathbed. Political
devils have engulfed our hopes and aspirations. We are
lost!
Independence: Reasons & Sacrifices
In August 1947, the British colonial ruler divided the
Indian Sub-continent into the Dominion of India and
the Dominion of Pakistan ; the latter was expected to
be a homeland for the Muslims of the Indian sub-
continent under the so-called Two-nation Theory. But
the irony of this dominion was that it housed two
geographically and culturally separate lands to the
east and the west of India . The western part was,
history goes on, called and officially termed West
Pakistan and the eastern one, now sovereign
Bangladesh, was initially named East Bengal under the
British Raj and later, East Pakistan under the
Dominion of Pakistan. Even though the population of
the two Pakistans was close to equal, political power
was dominated by the West Pakistan. Soon after the
creation of Pakistan was clear that the West Pakistani
based administration would want to rule the country
with equal eye when Mr. Jinna, the then head of the
Dominion of Pakistan firmly declared Urdu as the
state language of Pakistan.
The West Pakistani administration was fundamentally
one-eyed ensuring all benefits & services for them; we
were treated like a small colony; they exploited us
linguistically, socially, economically, politically and
culturally. Following is a horrible picture of
disparities:
Although East Pakistan had a larger population, West
Pakistan dominated the divided country politically
and received more money from the common budget.
Year Spending on Spending on Amount spent
West Pakistan
(in millions
of Pakistani
rupees )
East Pakistan
(in millions of
Pakistani
rupees)
on East as
percentage of
West
1950–
55 11,290 5,240 46.4
1955–
60 16,550 5,240 31.7
1960–
65 33,550 14,040 41.8
1965–
70 51,950 21,410 41.2
Total 113,340 45,930 40.5
Source: Reports of the Advisory Panels for the Fourth
Five Year Plan 1970–75, Vol. I,
published by the planning commission of Pakistan.
Grievances based these disparities mounted under the
leadership of Sheik Mujibur Rahman that led to the
declaration of the independence of Bangladesh on 26
March, 1971.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman signed an official declaration
that reads:
Today Bangladesh is a sovereign and independent
country. On Thursday night, West Pakistani armed
forces suddenly attacked the police barracks at
Razarbagh and the EPR headquarters at Pilkhana in
Dhaka. Many innocent and unarmed have been killed in
Dhaka city and other places of Bangladesh. Violent
clashes between E.P.R. and Police on the one hand and
the armed forces of Pakistan on the other, are going on.
The Bengalis are fighting the enemy with great courage
for an independent Bangladesh. May Allah aid us in our
fight for freedom. Joy Bangla [May Bangladesh be
victorious].
Later, Major Ziaur Rahman broadcast announcement
of the declaration of independence on behalf of Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman.
This is Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra. I, Major Ziaur
Rahman, at the direction of Bangobondhu Mujibur
Rahman, hereby declare that Independent People's
Republic of Bangladesh has been established. At his
direction , I have taken the command as the temporary
Head of the Republic. In the name of Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman, I call upon all Bengalees to rise against the
attack by the West Pakistani Army. We shall fight to the
last to free our motherland. Victory is, by the Grace of
Allah, ours. Joy Bangla
After a nine-month bloody war we achieved the
independence at the cost of the death of three million
sons of the soil and the abuse of one million mothers
and sisters on 16 December, 1971.
Looking back at every bit the father of nation’s
political wisdom & strategy makes it clear that
Bangladesh he dreamt of is a Bangladesh which would
do respect human dignity, ensure social justice,
alleviate poverty, empower human capital and above
all make the country as Golden Bengal.
Assassination of Bongobondhu: Birth of
Military Dictatorships
The Pakistani administration started its full-swing
genocide on the very night of 25 th March, 1971. By the
time Sheik Mujibur Rahman was arrested and secretly
taken to the West Pakistan a serious accusation that
he incited the common people to destroy the harmony
of the country; so he was put on the trial and found
guilty of treason followed the sentence to the death by
hanging. However, he was not executed due to strong
protest against the false trial across the world. Finally
was the Pakistani army had to surrender with ninety
eight thousands soldiers at Red Course Field and
accepted Bangladesh as an independent country. In
the backdrop of international pressure, Sheik Mujibur
Rahman was released from jail and flown back to
Dhaka on 9 January 1972.
Sheik Mujibur Rahman’s homecoming was one of the
epics in the history of Bangladesh; he returned with
huge popularity not as a leader of the newly
emancipated nation but as a king whose life and time
was completely sacrificed for the cause of his nation,
for his people.
He returned to a war-torn country which had serious
call for every thing to stand on itself. One of the
fundament jobs served by the government of Sheik
Mujibur Rahman was drafting a constitution.
However, his new government started to face
innumerable problems in a poor nation that had been
exploited for over two decades by the West Pakistanis
The prescriptions that he got from his advisers in the
Planning Commission, inclement weather conditions
that led to a terrible famine in 1974, rising global oil
prices, growing lawlessness, his unwillingness or
disinclination to be firm with party men and women
and relatives who were clamoring for benefits and
sinecures, underground movements that appeared to
be gathering momentum and threatening the state, all
appeared to conspire to show Mujib as unable to cope
with the responsibility of steering a nation from
political independence to peace, stability, and
prosperity(Alam 2006).
On other hand, in spite of several weaknesses of his
government, he succeeded in making the world
understand that Bangladesh as a new nation needed
mush to be done; he succeeded in sending the Indian
army back in 1972, repatriating the stranded
Bangladeshi from Pakistan, restoring the destroyed
communication system, forming the Bangladesh
Collaborators Special Tribunal Order on 24 January
1972, obtaining the membership of the
Commonwealth on 18 April 1972 & that of Non-
Aligned Movement in 1973 and securing the
membership of the Organization of Islamic Countries
in 1974. The possible worst thing he undertook was to
change the constitution from the parliamentary to the
presidential form of government along side the
establishment of Bangladesh Krisak Sramik Awami
League(BAKSAL) in February 1975 banning other
political parties through the 4 th amendment of the
constitution.
He clearly understood that things were going well in
all directions; local conspirators and international
enemies were harboring new and new scheme to
topple him down; it was said that he survived at
least three assassinations attempts before the black
15 th of August of 1975 assassinated in a military
coup along with most his family members at his
Dhanmondhi residence, which was not the
designated presidential house, his own living house.
He did not want to move to the presidential house,
which usually has the highest security, because he
believed that, and never dreamt of, that any
Bangladeshi either civil or military who he treated
as if they were his sons could kill him brutally.
Presidential Form of Government: Neo-
Military Autocracy
Establishing the presidential form of government
was considered to be a great blow to the expectation
of the people who struggled to liberate the country;
so far as our experiences are concerned, the
president was at the center of all powers; all
executive authorities were under the supreme
custody of the president who was made free not to
share anything with anyone in or outside the
government.
The constitution was amended to make the
president an autocratic superhero-an absolute
despot. The regime of General Zia and H.M. Ershad,
though these two regimes amended the constitution
several times and changed many mechanism of the
government of the father of the nation, continued to
adopt several state policies to confine the state
authority to the president. The parliament of these
regimes worked as if they were the theater where
the members of the parliament were actors and
actresses; the MPs were only used to dissect the
constitution in order to accommodate the will of the
dictators. Consequently, the regime of Zia and
Ershad did not every thing possible not to develop a
democratic culture in the country.
The Autocratic Government in Bangladesh
1975-1990
Civilian
Government
First parliamentary elections in 1973
and Mujib's Awami League won the
majority and formed the government.
Authoritarian
Government
Dissolved all political parties and
formed a single National Party,
BAKSAL in January 1975. Mujib was
assassinated in August 15, 1975.
Military
dictatorship
Military rule under Moshtaque,
Sayem, General Zia, from August 15,
1975 until May 30 1981.
Civilian
government
Justice Abdus Sattar came to power
after the assassination of General Zia
in 1981
Military General Ershad ousted Sattar
dictatorship government and established military
rule in March 24, 1982
Transition to
civil Rule
Mass political uprising forced General
Ershad to resign in December 1990.
The parliamentary elections was held
under the Interim government of
Justice Shahabuddin in February
1991, Khaleda Zia's Nationalist Party
won the majority and formed the
government
One of the significant parts of the military regime was
the development of Bureaucracy-Military discourse;
we often take the weakness political leadership
responsible for failure in generating strong movement
against the dictators; however, rational and pragmatic
insight demonstrates the fact that our bureaucracy
carefully assessed and understood the extent of its
importance to the dictators on the one hand and on
the other, the dictators realized without a pro-
autocratic bureaucracy they would find it difficult to
prolong their presence. So, the autocratic regime and
the bureaucracy always addressed a common ground
to serve their classified interests; this military-
bureaucracy hidden agreement used ideological
differences among the political parties so that they
could not reach a common platform against the
dictators.
Constitution & Its Legacy
Since the independence the Constitution of
Bangladesh went under fifteen times amendments; it
is one of frequently amended constitution in the
world; however, to the date the nation has had only
nine parliamentary elections. Our political party/s
which-so-ever takes over the state power would try to
occupy the constitution to legitimate everything it
does.
The 1972 constitution was drafted out of a number of
available written parliamentary constitutions at the
time. The constitution proclaims nationalism,
democracy, socialism and secularity as the national
ideals of the Bangladeshi republic. The members of
the constitution drafting committee were relatively
young in 1972; despite having being of one of liberal
constitutions of that time, it could not accommodate
any expectations of the newly independent nation. A
dispassionate observation of the 1972 constitution
reveals that the drafters kept in the mind that they
were writing a constitution to order to reflect the
hope of the nation and that of the father of nation but
in doing so, they terribly failed to bring about any
comprehensive balance what resulted in giving more
focus on paying gratitude to the father of the nation
than making functionally pro-people. The prime
minister was made the center of state executive
powers. So, our constitution inherited dictatorial
aspect at its birth.
The first amendment of the constitution was made
on 15 July 1973 in the first elected the parliament
under the newly framed constitution. Two articles
were incorporated in section 47 of the constitution in
order to formulate laws and execute those to try
criminals who committed genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes and crimes under international
laws.
Of two articles the article 47A made certain
fundament rights inapplicable in those cases. This is
one of magnitude developments of the constitution
because this amendment paved the way for trying
those participated in atrocities, genocide, crimes
against humanity during the war of liberation. As the
parliament had absolute majority, so the house could
have taken defining steps to decentralize the power of
the government and to make the executive, judicial
and legislative branches of the government equally
efficient enough to serve the nation the way the
people could see the implementation of their
expectations.
The second amendment of the constitution was
done on September 22 in 1973 to let the government
to promulgate emergency and suspension of certain
fundamental rights during emergency and to allow
government to detain people without trial for certain
periods. This amendment of the constitution again
experienced a complete authoritarian principle of the
state in contrast with the constitution’s guarantee to
the fundamental human rights defined in the part-03
of the constitution. This law was clearly formed to cut
off the supremacy of the people allowing the
government more autocratic, barbaric and anti-
people. All successive government amended the
constitution in the name of the people but never did
they any steps to repeal it from the constitution
because our so-called democratic political parities
understand that this black law can help them oppress
the people when the nation raises against their
injustice.
The third amendment of the constitution was
carried out on 28 November 1974; this amendment
allowed the government to implement an agreement
between Bangladesh and India for the exchange of
certain enclaves and the setting up of boundary lines
between Bangladesh and India.
The forth amendment of the constitution was made
on 25 January 1957; the amendment to the
constitution was considered to be a great blow to the
heart of democracy. Following major changes were
brought:
The parliamentary system of government was
replaced by presidential form of government.
Introduction of one-party system instead of
multiparty system.
The strength of the parliament was belittled.
The tenure of the first parliament was
extended.
The judiciary experienced loss of its
independence and the Supreme Court was
dispossessed of its jurisdiction over the
protection and enforcement of fundament
human rights.
This amendment to the constitution is still considered
to be the darkest attempt to make the country
dysfunctional in all aspects of socio-political
discourses. It dissolved all political parties and
introduced a single national party called Bangladesh
Krisak Sramik Awamileague(BAKSAL); following this
amendment the government banned all private print
media. The most surprising experience of the nation
was that the country was made a police-state under
the leadership of the father of the nation, Sheik
Mujibur Rahman, who taught and spent much of his
time in teaching the nation that a nation can stand
alone without freedom-only imperative tool to respect
human dignity.
The fifth amendment to the constitution was made
on 6 April 1979 when General Zia was the president of
the country. This amendment indemnified all orders,
sentences and promulgations proclaimed and
implemented by the Order of Martial Law Authorities
between 15 August 1975 and 06 April 1979. Like the
4 th amendment, the 5 th was a great stigma in the
history of our nation.
Most heinous crime was that it indemnified the killers
of the father of the nation along side others who killed
national four leaders while they were at jail. The
period of 15 August 1975 and 06 April 1979 saw
many unexpected changes, occurrences, killing,
revolution and counter-revolution during the regime
of Moshtaque, Justice Sayem and General Zia. Apart
from the darker side of this amendment, it restored
multiparty system of democracy, presidential form of
government and freedom of newspapers.
The sixth constitutional amendment was passed on
July 10 in 1981 through which a provision was made
that offices of president, prime minister, ministers,
state ministers and deputy ministers will not be
considered as offices of profit.
The seventh amendment to the constitution was
carried out on 11 November 1986 under the regime of
General Ershad. It amended Article 96 of the
Constitution and the Fourth Schedule to the
Constitution; through this amendment all
proclamations, proclamation orders, Chief Martial
Law Administrator's Orders, Martial Law Regulations,
Martial Law Orders, Martial Law Instructions,
ordinances and other laws made, taken and
implemented from 24 March 1982 to 11 November
1986 were given indemnity. General Ershad followed
the footprint of his predecessor, General Zia, in
making unquestionable for his misdeeds during his
regime as Chief Martial Law Administrator.
The eighth amendment to the constitution was
passed on 09 June 1988; this amendment declared
Islam as the State Religion, allowed to set up six
benches of the High Court Division outside Dhaka,
Bengali was replaced by Bangladeshi and Dacca was
replaced by Dhaka. This amendment to the
constitution also prohibited the acceptance of any
titles, honors, awards, or decorations from any foreign
state by any citizen of Bangladesh without the prior
approval of the president
The ninth amendment to the constitution was
carried out on 11 July 1989. This amendment
provided for the direct election of the Vice-President
and refrained a person from holding the office of the
President for two consecutive terms of five years each.
This amendment said that a Vice-President might be
appointed in case of a vacancy in the office of
President, but that such an appointment must be
approved by the parliament.
The 7 th , 8 th and 9 th amendments were made during the
regime of General Ershad. He brought about many
changes to the constitution but none of them was
intended to ensure greater benefits of the nation;
rather these amendments were carefully schemed to
strengthen and prolong his autocratic regime. He had
taken no attempts to remove any black laws from the
constitution. Moreover, he used those to tyrannize the
people to serve his interests.
The tenth Amendment of the constitution was
made on 12 June 1990. Amongst other things, the
amendment introduced provision for the reservation
of thirty seats in the parliament exclusively for women
members. The reservation was to last for 10 years,
with the members holding the reserved seats to be
elected by the members of the parliament.
The eleventh amendment to the constitution was
on 6 August 1991. This amendment validated the
appointment & oath as Vice President of Shahabuddin
Ahmed , the then Chief Justice of Bangladesh , and the
resignation submitted to him on 6 December 1990 by
the then President Ershad . This amendment too
corrected, confirmed and legitimated all powers, laws,
ordinances, orders, acts and, actions and proceedings
taken, exercised, implemented and made by the Vice
President as acting President from 6 December 1990
to 9 October 1991; it also incorporated special
provision to allow the acting president’s possible
return to his previous office as Chief Justice of
Bangladesh.
The twelfth amendment of the constitution was
passed on 6 August 1991 and approved
by referendum in September, brought about a
fundamental change to Bangladesh's constitutional
arrangements as follows;
The President became the
constitutional head of the state
The Prime Minister became the head
of the executive
The Cabinet headed by the Prime
Minister became responsible to the
Parliament
The position of Vice President was
abolished;
The office of President now became
elected by the members of the
parliament
The thirteenth Amendment to The Constitution
was done on 26 March 1996 creating a provision for a
non-party caretaker government which will act as an
interim government, would give all possible aid and
assistance to the Election Commission for holding a
free, fair and impartial general parliamentary election.
The non-party caretaker government headed by the
Chief Adviser, who would be the immediate past of
Chief Justice of the country, and not more than 10
other advisers, would be collectively responsible to
the president and this interim government would
dissolve automatically on the date on which the Prime
Minister took over the office of the prime minister
after the constitution of the new parliament.
The 13 th amendment of the constitution marked the
history of our constitution with a different impact in
the practice of the national election. On the other
hand, introduction of the non-party caretaker
government only to arrange the nation election clearly
brings testimony to the trust deficit among our
political parities which means that our political
parties, though doing their, according to their
statement, politics in the name of the people, have yet
to develop any uniform political practice based mutual
trust to hold a free, fair, neutral and credible election.
The fourteenth amendment to the constitution
was passed on May 16, 2004, by which the number of
reserved women seats in the parliament was
increased from 30 to 45, the age of the Supreme Court
judges was increased from 65 to 67 years and
provisions for putting portraits of the President and
the Prime Minister at the offices of the President and
the Prime minister and the Prime Minister’s portrait
in government, semi-government and autonomous
offices and Bangladesh missions abroad were made
mandatory.
The fifteenth amendment to the constitution was
passed on 30 June 2011; this amendment not only
repealed the fundamental values of the 1972
constitution but it brought about significant changes
in the constitution. Most mentionable new characters
of the amendment as follows:
Caretaker system abolished Elections to be
held under incumbent cabinet
Islam as State religion and ‘Bismillah-Ar-
Rahman-Ar-Rahim’ retained
Revival of Article 12 to restore Secularism and
freedom of religion
The people of Bangaladesh shall be known as
Bangalees as a nation and citizens of
Bangladesh shall be known as Bangladeshis
Inserted articles 7A and 7B in the Constitution
after Article 7 in a bid to end takeover of power
through extra-constitutional means
Basic provisions of the constitution are not
amendable
In the case of a dissolution Parliament by any
reason, election should be held within 90 days
of such dissolution
Increasing the number of women reserve seats
to 50 from existing 45.
The Supreme Command of the defense services
shall vest in the President and the exercise
thereof shall be regulated by law.
The Chief Justice shall be appointed by the
President, and the other judges shall be
appointed by the President in consultation with
the Chief Justice.
The portrait of the Father of the nation
Bangbandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman shall be
preserved and display at the offices of the
President, the Prime Minister, the Speaker, and
the Chief Justice and in head and branch offices
of all government and semi-government offices,
autonomous bodies, statutory public
authorities, government and non-government
educational institutions, embassies and
missions of Bangladesh abroad.
Incorporation of historic speech of the Father
of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman on March 7, 1971, Declaration of
Independence by Bangabandhu after midnight
of March 25, 1971 and the proclamation of
Independence declared at Mujibnagar on April
10, 1971.
Soon after the 15 th amendment to the constitution a
nationwide outcry was developed not only the
oppositions but by the different civil society
organizations as well, specially, because of the
abolishment of the caretaker government leading to
the present political impasse. Most authoritarian
aspect of this amendment is that it restricted the
amendment to basic provisions of the constitution by
the parliaments to come. The position wanted to
justify the draconian amendment of the constitution
by pointing to the 14 th amendment of the constitution
by the BNP regime in 2004, the unauthorized abuse of
the caretaker government by the president in 2006
that consequently contributed to opening space for a
military-backed caretaker government in 2007-2008.
Since this amendment the opposition under the
banner of 18-party alliance has taken to the street
demonstrating strong protest against the annulment
of the caretaker government; the opposition have
organized several nationwide general strikes resulted
in death and destruction; recently the 18-parity
alliance has made calling general strikes and
blockages as common affairs; it is reported that
average 12 people are killed in one day-strike or
blockage; of them 90 per cent are common people
such bus & taxi drivers, rickhshawpuller, passengers
and pedestrians. So, the human cost of the violence is
on the rise fast. On the other hand, the position, as it
happens generally in Bangladesh since the
reinstatement of democratic system in 1990, has been
more aggressive and tyrannical to oppress the
opposition.
Death of Constitutional Watchdogs
Precisely speaking, the history of our democracy is the
intentional weakness of constitutional bodies. The
resistance against the General Ershad regime was
undoubtedly defined to be an indigenous as well as
spontaneous movement participated in by all classes
of people where their social, political, religious and
economic identity had no role in making their mind up
to end the Ershad regime; introducing democracy was
only their motto because the nation had not tested the
fruit of independence in a democratic system.
During the period of 1975-1990 democracy was
imprisoned, oppressed and tyrannized. The military
rulers more often not made a mockery of democracy
while putting off military uniform in the name of
democracy and multiparty political system. Unlike
contemporary dictators available at that time, our
dictators had no belief in human dignity and rights.
Moreover, people were thought to be the enemy of the
dictators despite the fact that their dictatorship were
in partnership with some collaborators. In order to
understand the common practice of our constitutional
bodies one does not need to be specialized in subject
but simple consciousness is particularly prudent
enough to comment on how our constitutional bodies
or watchdogs have been polarized. So, unarguably
does every citizen whether educated or uneducated
agree that we feel a critical need to restructure our
constitutional bodies in terms of both legal and moral
empowerment. We often cry for a society that must
ensure a stable and pro-people government where the
role of democratic practice is inevitable in the
functions of constitutional watchdogs if the society is
committed to basic principles of equilibrium.
It has been told and has always been asked to believe
that the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is the apex
body of the state; even this status of it has been a part
of our constitution that can function as the legal
custodian of the constitution. We have had a lot of
examples of strategic decisions set up by the Supreme
Court in need of national crisis but the 15 th
amendment to the constitution has serious belittled
the supreme authority of the constitution. People
believe that this is last that could be done to destroy
this institution turning it to be a political organization.
Over the years the practice of the Supreme Court has
witnessed the terrible politicization of the court. What
looks bewildering is that the principal stakeholders of
the Supreme Court has made this process possible;
that is, they love to see it completely politically
polarized. We usually learn from the media that the
kind of legal practitioners are appointed as justice.
You find the selection criteria for justice of the
Supreme Court in the constitution but in practice,
political affiliation and loyalty plays central role in
appointment of justice at the Supreme Court. We have
to believe that with the fall of towering national
institution our political parties have been in the
making of their complete downfall. There is maxim
saying Justice delayed, justice denied but in Bangladesh
Justice politicized, justice denied.
Like the Supreme Court, Election Commission is one of
the integral parts of democratic system. Election
commissions in our countries in Asia and outside are
completely independent; they deliver their services
not in favor of any political party or person but in
favor of the common people; perhaps, the greatest
tragedy of our politics, specially after the downfall of
the autocratic regime in 1990, is its absolute failure in
constituting really independent-empowered election
commission. Two largest political parties of
Bangladesh, Bangladesh Awami League(AL) and
Bangladesh Nationalist Party(BNP), have never left
the commission unquestionable; when the
commission formed during the AL, according the
government, this is the best election on the planet; in
contrast, to the BNP, it is the worst and vice versa. For
the past twenty three years the nation has learnt the
horrible lesson that the election is year is the year of
extreme violence, insecurity inside & outside home,
death, attack and retaliation. These two political
parties were mandated to rule the country equally ten
years. However, our experience says that twenty
years times was not long enough for them to reach a
common ground of mutual trust to give the people a
practically independent election commission which
would be empowered to arrange national election
under any circumstances. As a result, the absence of
trust among the political parties has brought about
unthinkable destruction for us.
We got independence in 1971 but the nation saw the
establishment of Anti-Corruption Commission in
2004. Even in the advanced countries Anti-Corruption
Commission and Ombudsman are considered to be
basic constitutional watchdogs to ensure whether the
position delivers its commitments placed to the
people. Since 2004 Anti-Corruption has been a
commission of political mockery; it has yet to set
single example of success. Every government wants its
best to make it a toothless tiger and politically-driven
national organization to suppress the opposition and
the dissent.
Political Culture: Inference of Monsters
It is so arguable to state that our politics is not at the
politicians but at the hand of political monsters. Their
hunger is too mountainous to be met; they are ready
to swallow everything they find on the way. The
monsters of the ruling party behave as if they were
biblically chosen to control the fate of the nation for
five year.; they have developed a cohesive network to
run through every department of the public offices;
public recruitment is one of the most profitable
businesses like public tenders; they dare to do
anything to succeed in meeting their ends even at the
cost of lives because being a affiliated member of the
ruling party appears to have been approved to kill
anyone when he or she is found to be an obstruction
on the way of meeting their hunger. General
administration, police department and judicial
department are completely subordinate to the
monsters of the ruling party but categorically
instrumental to tyrannize the opposition.
Prime Ministerial Autocracy
Why do we believe that since 1990 Bangladesh has
been a democratic country? Things are run
democratically! It was believed that transition from
the presidential form of government to the
parliamentary system of government would be more
effective in opening space for healthy democratic
practice. The 4 th amendment to the constitution made
the prime minister a rank and file dictator but this
character has yet to be changed. From the behavior of
our prime minister no-one can realize that prime
minister is a member of the parliament, a member of
the cabinet and head of council of ministers; some
time our parliamentary system of the government is
compared with that of India, Japan, the UK, Australia
and so on. This is simply useless comparison. Looking
at the our constitution makes us understand how the
prime minister was made a constitutional superhero;
he or she is at the center of executive decisions; one of
senior citizens said our prime minister is much more
powerful than the Moghal Emperor. Other members of
the cabinet are appointed to deliver the wishes of the
prime minister; they are completely spineless to raise
their voice; if it suddenly happens, he or she will no
longer be found in the cabinet. The prime ministerial
wish is the final destiny of the nation. For a five year
term they are here to worship the prime minister. The
article 70 of the constitution was introduced to make
them voiceless in the parliament.
Concluding Remarks
The cost of our independence is immeasurable. People
came out of their home and joined the war of
liberation for a nation which would liberate from
poverty and give us a stable state from corruption,
oppression, illiteracy, hunger, unemployment, human
suffering but forty three year down the road the
reality is that autocratic system both in the name of
military dictatorship and that of civilian government
has been against their interests. Every amendment to
the constitution was made to serve particular political
interest; movement against any changes in the
constitution is too to serve political interests; during
our so-called democratic regime 19991-2013, the
constitution was dissected again and again to
accommodate political agenda, to centralize all state
powers at the head of the prime minister, to oppress
the common people, to make the office of the
president ceremonial and to victimize the opposition.
Only way is available is to make the constitution a
constitution of balance of power that ensures
decentralization, equal possession of executive
authority between the president and the prime
minister and every possible to make it pro-people
instead of pro-political parties.
Reference
Alam, Fakrul, The Life and Death of Bangabandhu, 21 May,
2006, the Daily Star