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Hats off to Bangladesh army

Kazi S.M. Khasrul Alam Quddusi
THE celebration of smooth transition to democracy after more than two years of uncertainty will remain incomplete unless a big "thank-you" is offered to Bangladesh army. Our army set a new trend, belying the age-old belief that armed forces in the developing countries are hostile to furtherance of democracy.
Even when army chief General Moyeen U Ahmed was repeatedly saying that the army would help hold acceptable general elections by 2008 and ensure hand-over of state-power to an elected government, there were many skeptics only because of army's past anti-democratic role in our country. Our army had long been aloof from intervening in state activities.
They, however, intervened on January 11, 2007. History will recognise that Bangladesh army came to the scene to rescue democracy. The peaceful switch to a democratic set-up shows that our army has, to all intents and purposes, salvaged Bangladesh democracy.
The army refused the temptation to capture power in 1990 by not conniving with the then military ruler H.M. Ershad. After years of erratic rule, democracy
was again restored through acceptable general elections in 1991. The army showed great maturity at that time. This time, however, their role has been even more glorifying as they have been proud partners in bringing the derailed train of democracy back on the track.
The party.opting for change has come to power, and a qualitative change in our political culture seems to have set in. That party's charter of change, too, has taken off with formation of a cabinet comprising people of clean image. Finally, discipline is gaining ground in our culture, which augurs well.
The army is a regimented force. Disciplined behaviour of the people, too, was evident in the elections, where nearly 90% electorate cast their votes with very little disturbance. The change in the ambience was such that party activists stayed away from polling centers despite little presence of security people.
Our army will also go down in history for their excellent role in preparing a flawless voters roll with pictures, as well national identity cards. It can be said with confidence that the scope for election engineering will virtually disappear if the current database is maintained and updated systematically.
Members of the Bangladesh army
have earned worldwide acclaim for their peacekeeping accomplishments. Their role in restoration of democracy, and in the preparation of a voters roll would no doubt add feathers to their cap. Reportedly, many in the world are now pondering on replicating such voters' roll in their countries.
There were, however, aberrations in the last two years. Though the countrymen accepted the anti-corruption campaign, there were intermittent attempts by the vested quarters to use that more as a political weapon than a reform pro-gram. Many, thus, sensed depoliticisation in the name of decriminalisation.
Creation of an anti-corruption task force led by a general favourably disposed towards the BNP-Jamaat cartel in presence of an independent Anticorruption Commission, and the activities of a few members of the armed forces centering the Dhaka University incident, constantly provoked by the then information adviser, were some glaring instances where vested quarter tried to bring our patriotic armed forct and the people to a virtual confronta tion.
Can one imagine what could have been the result had both groups not showed restraint at that crunch moment?
However, fortunately for the nation, those elements could not subvert things for long. Because they stay away from civilian societies, army-men are thought to be less aware of public sentiment. However, this perception has been proved false in the country since 1991. It is really reassuring that the core segment of our enlightened army has developed an uncanny ability of reading the public pulse almost precisely.
The level of consciousness among the people of Bangladesh has also been a matter to be reckoned with. Despite the dismal performance of the political parties, the people opted to give democracy more chances, which was reflected in the pre-poll Daily Star-Nielson survey where 81% went for democracy.
I believe that the current government will take the opportunity to build on the overwhelming support of the electorate and the good work of the Bangladesh army, and work for providing the people with the bare necessities and social peace.
Kazi S.M. Khasrul Alam Quddusi is Assistant Professor. Department of Public Administration, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh. E-mail: khasru74@yahoo.com
***After years of erratic rule, democracy was again restored through acceptable general elections in 1991. The army showed great maturity at that time. This time, however, their role has been even more glorifying as they have been proud partners in bringing the derailed train of democracy back on the track.****