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Political merry-go-round

Moazzem Hossain
***The people certainly do not want to see apolitical merry-go-round. The message is loud and clear, no reform, no politics (political parties' constitution in mind). The EC should be empowered and must be allowed to draw the line on political parties and ensure participation of all genuine democratic forces in the election without fear. Let us hope, unlike America, another generation of ours does not need to suffer after December 2008.***
AFTER Sheikh Hasina's release from the sub-jail, the AL made it clear that it would participate in the December election. When a party like the AL is in such a mood, the road is clear enough for the EC to conduct the election without problems. Having said this, it is time now to re-visit a little history.
After the calamities of 1975, in which the father of the nation with most of his family members, and the four national leaders, were brutally murdered, the death warrant fox this nation had been issued by the enemies ofliberation.
The nation was crippled by its enemies even before it had started crawling. Why was this the case? This is because many of those who had seen closely the gruesome atrocities committed on the nights of March 25 and December 13, 1971, and August 15 and November 3, 1975, have held power in the past three decades.
What have we seen under these leaders? They have presided over the adulteration of politics for a very, very long
period of time, more than quarter of a century combined. Some of them even presided over the destruction and distortion of the history of the war of liberation and directly participated in bringing down the portrait of the father of the nation in the parliament. These leaders, once again, it is feared, seem to be getting ready and pressing their suits and dresses for a comeback in December. After witnessing all these, how can we say that the current situation is not a political merry-go-round?
Thirty-six years is a very long time and, in the meantime, we have managed to rehabilitate the murderers and the enemies of independence. We, the general public, witnessed these happenings silently. The crunch time has arrived, again people's power must join hands with the CTG to destroy the enemies of independence and plunderers of national wealth through the ballot box to live with dignity and pride.
During the time of such an upsurge and solidarity towards defeating corrupt politicians and the enemies of independence, it is not unusual to see
some infiltration in the rank and file. In the present environment, we can see once again that the TV screens have been inundated by well-known cronies and sycophants. They have been trying again to paint the pre-1/11 period as a time of milk and honey for the nation. I do not want to go into this debate in the rest of the commentary, but would like to raise some issues Which seem to be gradually getting erased from our memories in the present environment.
The world has changed since 9/11. The so-called "war against terror" together with a doctrine of "either with us, or against us” has made many genuine neutral countries nervous. These countries had to follow too many orders against their will. Contrary to this, many governments have taken advantage of such a doctrine and tried to appease the leaders of the war against terror to gain some personal blessings at the expense of their people.
In the process, we have seen a once prosperous nation, Iraq, being destroyed, initially by the coalition forces, and now by the so called insurgents, although this nation had nothing to do
with 9/11 or with weapons of mass destruction. In the process, over a million Iraqis were killed and more than four thousand coalition soldiers have died. Moreover, experts have put this as a three trillion dollar war for America. The mistake of the war will cost the Americans at least a generation to bring normalcy both in politics and in economics.
Locally, we have seen the atrocities against the opposition during the Khaleda-Nizami regime, which ultimately brought for the nation emergency rule for almost 24 months. When the nation witnessed almost 500 bombs going off in the space of half an hour in 64 district towns.
There was an attempt on the life of Sheikh Hasina on August 21, 2004. Also, dozens had to give their lives and a few hundred injured in this unprecedented atrocity committed during the regime of Khaleda-Nizami.
Was there any meaningful protest against this? Unfortunately, there was none. This shows how authoritarians had captured the seat of power through 2001 election. Finally,
the same force wanted to capture power again by money and muscle in the name of election on January 22,2007.
Having refreshed our memories with these words, we certainly are at a crossroads, after crossing so many bridges to reach this point since 1/11. In my final words, I would like to express without reservation that there is no going back. The people will not accept any resolution that puts the back at the mercy of the makers of crisis over the last three decades.
The people certainly do not want to see a political merry-go-round. The message is loud and clear, no reform, no politics (political parties' constitution in mind). The EC should be empowered and must be allowed to draw the line on political parties and ensure participation of all genuine democratic forces in the election without fear. Let us hope, unlike America, another generation of ours does not need to suffer after December 2008.
Dr. Moazzem Hossain is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.