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How valid will the next AL government be?

Shamsuddin Ahmed
THANKS to the AL brand of democracy, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's firm determination to go ahead with the national election at any cost, as many as 154 candidates have already been elected unopposed in the 300 member Jatiya Sangsad election slated to be held on fanuary 5, 2014. All these candidates belong to the ruling political alliance and the so-called multiparty poll time government.
In an election boycotted by the BNP-led 18 party opposition alliance and many other parties, Sheikh Hasina attributed the windfall success of the smaller parties of the poll-time government to her magnanimity and the spirit of “compromise" she had demonstrated in that she had asked her party candidates to withdraw their nomination papers from these constituencies. She said that she would have given a “walkover" to the BNP in some constituencies if the party had joined the poll time government. She added that she would have done this for the sake of the interest of the country, the constitution and the ideals of democracy.
But what Sheikh Hasina forgot to say, or was unmoved about, was that in this charade of an election, half the voters have been denied their democratic right to vote and elect their representatives to the latiya Sangsad,
and the remaining half have been left with no choice but to vote for one of the two or three candidates left in the fray in a constituency. Besides, in most of the remaining constituencies, AL candidates are either pitted against rebel AL candidates or weaker candidates of the smaller coalition partners. What a mockery of patriotism, love for democracy and adherence to constitution in a land where,
in 1971, people made the supreme sacrifice by laying down their lives in millions for the ideals of democracy and freedom!
Does Sheikh Hasina want us and the rest of the world to believe that after the drama of Ershad being forcibly picked up at midnight by the state intelligence agencies and kept in confinement in a military hospital that the IP led by Ershad is a willing partner of the so-called multi-party poll time government? Do we not know why Ershad has been sidelined to pave the way for Raushan Ershad to emerge and lead the JP in the election?
Clearly, Sheikh Hasina is about to reach a milestone as the AL is well set to emerge victorious with two-thirds majority in the 10th latiya Sangsad in a virtually one-party election. Notably AL had won two-thirds majority in election twice before -once in 1973 and then in 2008. But never ever was the electoral victory of the AL, which led the Liberation War in 1971, called in question as it is being done now.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been following the proverbial stick and carrot policy in dealing with the opposition right from the day she came to power. The message is clear: Be at one with us or be prepared to be left out in the cold. Obviously, she does not like any dissenting voice,
whether it is on the floor of the Jatiya Sangsad or outside the Sangsad. As soon as she formed the AL government in 1996, she called it the government of national consensus and asked all the opposition parties including BNP to join her government. BNP had rejected the offer outright. But the Jatiya Party of Hussain Muhammad Ershad, the fallen dictator who was then in jail, quickly gave in, and Anwar Hossain Manju joined the cabinet as minister of communication.
This time around, in 2008, Sheikh Hasina allowed a minister each from the latiya Party of Ershad, the Jaiya Samajtantrik Dal of Inu and the Samyabadi Dal in the AL-led grand alliance government. From day one of her second stint in power, Sheikh Hasina and her minions in the alliance were on the offensive as they launched a virulent character assassination campaign on Gen Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia, forcing the latter to boycott the Jatiya Sangsad session.
Never was there any conciliatory move by the government to bring BNP back to the Jatiya Sangsad. When the BNP-led opposition parties vehemently opposed the cancellation of the non-party caretaker government (CTG) system through the 15th Amendment to the Constitution by disregarding the suggestion of the apex court to continue with the CTG system for another two terms, and made it clear that they would neither participate in the next Jatiya Sangsad election nor would they allow the one-sided election to be held, Sheikh Hasina suddenly came out with stick in one hand and carrot in the other.
She began to put senior BNP leaders in jail on trumped up charges in a bid to put pressure on BNP to join the poll-time government and participate in the election. At the same time, she offered Khaleda Zia as many ministers and any ministry for the BNP-led opposition, except of course for the portfolio of the prime minister which has to be held by Sheikh Hasina. Khaleda Zia categorically rejected the offer. Could she decide to do otherwise and commit political hara kiri for her party and her political allies knowing full well that the election under this government headed by Sheikh Hasina could never be free and fair, and that a massive AL victory is a foregone conclusion?
As of now, the nation is clearly heading for a one-party election and perhaps an AL government without moral validity is in the offing. The multi-million dollar question is: How long will this government last and at what cost?
The writer is a former Military Secretary to the President.