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The loss of a titan

KAZI ANWARUL MASUD
BANGLADESH is passing through a very critical period of its existence. The strong bond of nationalism, which, despite the fissures in society, was so long thought to have bound the country into a strong entity, is proving to be irremediable tectonic fractures. Societal degeneration has reached the stage where the building blocks of a modern democratic polity are fast disappearing. Elections do not democracy make, nor do they give license to a group to misrule the people for a fixed period. Supportive cultural values, political trust, social tolerance, basic political liberties and gender equalityare essential to make democracy work.
In the absence of these cultural values, the emergence of the tyranny of the majority becomes an inescapable reality, and the claim to continue to misrule by the group who were elected renders itself obsolete because such claim is devoid of ethical and moral foundations inherent in the concept of good governance. In making such claims, failed governments often forget the advice proffered by James Madison that government should be formed not only to control the governed, but also itself.
If the legitimating argumentation of Maximilien Robespierre's French Revolution is to be found in the decadence and failed governance of Louis XVI, his eventual downfall was also caused by the excesses committed during the Reign of Terror that Robespierre and his ill-advised supporters let loose on France, in which thousands of people were killed. Nero, Caligula, Hitler and the 20th century dictators left the lesson of history that those who live by the sword also die by the sword. While gelling of resistance to tyranny may take a while, ultimately the will of the people prevails.
In the interregnum period, people suffer at the hands of the marauders and murderers that cannot be apprehended by the government elected by the people to keep these marauders and murderers at bay. Unfortunately, the hunger for power being basic to human nature, and where politics becomes the conduct of public affairs for private advan-
tage, Teddy Roosevelt's realization that exercise of power should be tinged with responsibility does not resonate in societies like ours. In many Fourth World countries, and Bangladesh is perhaps one of them, people in authority, more often than not, prove Lord Acton right that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The senseless murder of SAMS Kibria, a Titan among Lilliputians, has once again put Bangladesh in
the eye of a storm. Known for natural calamity, endemic poverty, and deep-rooted corruption, Bangladesh has distinguished itself as a lawless country as well. As it is, personal safety has become mythical in the last several years. Notwithstanding legally questionable actions of some law enforcement authorities to curb lawlessness (criticized by some human rights activists), the law and order situation has not appreciably improved despite governmental claim to the contrary.
An added element has been the venality of "political terrorism." Bangladesh society appears to be deeply divided along political lines, between "loyalists" (to the government) and "others." Between friends and foes. Between "patriots" and "traitors."
Perhaps poet Percy Bysse Shelly would have better described the situation as a desolating pestilence polluting whatever it touches, making slaves of men and obscuring genius, virtue, freedom, and truth. What surprises most observers of Bangladesh politics is the sheer inability and/or lack of sincerity on the part of the authorities to apprehend and bring to justice the perpetrators of these heinous crimes of which SAMS Kibria was the latest victim. The Daily Star, examining sixteen bomb explosions, from Udichi function to the assassination attempt on the leader of the opposition in parliament, found forensic experts being ignored in the probes into bomb blasts. The winter of our discontent has already stretched too long without any glimmer of sunshine. One wonders whether, like John Steinbeck, Bangladeshis would have to remain as chroniclers
of social unrest and injustice, whether ice age is approaching the Bangladesh political scene, whether we are regressing from modernity and turning towards tribalism where primordial loyalty to fellow tribesmen supercedes our commitment to cultural values so essential to nurture democratic practice.
One wonders whether, like Henry David Thoreau, immersed in Emmersonian transcendentalism's belief that God being inherent in nature and human beings, each individual should rely on his own conscience and intuition and thereby have a free attitude towards authority, Bangladeshis should not begin to introspect into and take actions relating to observationsÊ that "when power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule not because they are most likely to be right, but because they are physically the strongest." Thoreau incidentally did not advocate armed rebellion but passive resistance which decades after his death was successfully used by Mahatma Gandhi to end the British rule in India.
The continuing socio-political violence in Bangladesh is also partly fuelled by religious extremism. It is generally recognized that madrassas (religious schools) contribute to religious intolerance not because Islam is an intolerant religion, as Princeton Professor Bernard Lewis would have the world believe, but because the madrassa teachers are not sufficiently equipped with knowledge to instill tolerance and secularity in the young minds of the students they teach. It is believed that the number
of madrassas is increasing at a phenomenal rate. Government published sources reveal that during 1980-2000 the number of junior and high madrassas increased by 271 percent while growth of secondary schools was only 185 percent. During the same period the number of students in junior and high madrassas increased by 818 percent as opposed to 317 growth rate for students of secondary schools.
Bangladesh would do well to avoid the Pakistani example where Islam has become the central issue in Pakistani politics through conscious and consistent state policy aimed at excluding secular politicians from power. Albeit rivalry with India encouraged successive Pakistani governments to use Islam as a national unifier. Yet one must be equally aware of the emergence of Al-Qaeda due to mono-centric Western policy to help Afghan mujahedeens through Pakistan to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan and subsequent carnage of 9/11 and many others. As it is, the major political party in Bangladesh government shares power with two Islamist political parties who were not only opposed to Bangladesh's war of liberation, but are widely believed to be wedded to Islamic fundamentalism. Though these are early days to conclusively connect radical Islamists with the murder of SAMS Kibria because investigations are in progress, yet one has to take into account that victims of political violence have largely been secularists like Awami League and left party leaders, progressive minded intellectuals, and people who went to cinema halls and cultural functions. Added to this trend
has been the emergence of Bangla Bhai whose brutality is well documented, who has vowed to establish a Muslim state in Bangladesh and who remains at large despite reported police actions to arrest him.
Does the murder of SAMS Kibria, coupled with governmental inability to unearth the culprits behind other terrorist acts, qualify Bangladesh to be classified as a failed state? All Bangladeshis would immediately reply in the negative. Despite international criticism of governmental inability to solve the crimes and strong condemnations of the murders and mayhems, the world at large has not yet bracketed Bangladesh in the same group as Afghanistan (in pre-Karzai period), Angola, Burundi, Congo, Sierra Leone, and Sudan. Failed states have some telltale signs. They are utterly incapable of maintaining themselves as members of the international community. These states face serious "internal problems that threaten their continued coherence" or "significant internal challenge to their political order." They are significant violators of human rights. Civil strife, economic collapse and breakdown of food and health system may force refuges from failed states to flee to adjoining states threatening their peace and stability. None of these signs apply in the case of Bangladesh.
Robert Rotberg provides some other characteristics. Failed states are unable to provide security throughout their domain. Citizens depend on the government for their security and to free themselves from fear. They have flawed institutions, only the executive functions. Legislatures, if they exist, are rubber stamps. Judiciary is a derivative of the executive and does not enjoy the confidence of the people. The bureaucracy having long lost its professionalism exists only to carry out the order of the executive. Corruption flourishes in failed states and is widespread. State failure is man-made. Leadership failures weaken the fragile politics and leads to state failure.
In the context of reduced significance of sovereignty in the postCold War period, former UNSG Boutros Ghali had suggested that UN intervention would be appropriate in the face of collapse of domestic governing authority, displaced population or gross violation of human rights. The Anglo-US misadventure in Iraq has amply demonstrated the futility of intervention in a sovereign state without global consent, however compelling the arguments in favor of humanitarian intervention may be.
Luckily for Bangladesh, despite the current difficulties, it is still regarded as a functioning member of the international community. It would however be foolhardy to assume that the international community would look on indifferently if terrorist activities like the murder of SAMS Kibria, one in a long line of violent acts, is allowed to be buried in oblivion. For Bangladesh, the death of SAMS Kibria is a national loss. A superb intellect, a diplomat par excellence, and a politician with a difference is gone. One hopes that we will be able to save the few remaining ones from harm's way. We further hope the government and the international community will spare no effort to find out and punish the guilty. It is not too much to ask.
Kazi Anwarul Masud is a former Secretary and Ambassador.