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NEWS ANALYSIS

Good realisation in the end

Inam Ahmed
Everyone waited with bated breath as BNP chief Khaleda Zia spoke at a press conference to outline her party's next line of actions. Thirty minutes later, they heaved a sigh of relief as no new wave of hartal and blockade was announced.
That is the welcome new realisation that has dawned on the BNP leader. In the last two and a half months, she had waged a most violent agitation which saw fatal clashes, burning of public vehicles that led to the deaths in flames of more than 120 innocent souls and damage of public property of an unparallel scale.
This strategy yielded very little in BNP's favour. Rather people were aghast. Despite repeated calls from all quarters, including the media, Khaleda did not relent to change this line of action. The economy bled. The poor bled. The country bled.
But now, we can thank her for shunning that path. Her new strategy is smart and positive for several reasons.
First, she has seen the folly of waging this kind of violent programmes. These only alienate the party from the people.
Secondly, her programmes are now more people oriented. She will hold "peaceful" protests and rallies with black flags. She has stressed the word "peaceful". She would also take on tours for mass mobilisation. On all these counts, her party had failed in its previous movement. We hardly saw her doing the mass mobilisation that was needed to stop the one-sided election that had just been held. Her party leaders never came to the streets for movement; rather the thugs ruled the agitation with mindless brutality.
And she has clearly depicted the misrule of the last government. She has been able to rightly point out the rampant nature of corruption and brutal rule that the country has gone through over the past five years. Above all, we can all thank her that she did not go for another endless bout of strikes and blockades that have wreaked havoc on the country.
Her call on the government to allow her party to do politics in its rightful way is also correct. It is now time for the government to let her party offices function and let her hold all peaceful democratic programmes.
Most of her party leaders are behind bars. And it is obvious that many of the charges against them are fabricated. Her demand for the immediate release of these leaders is also a rightful one.
This is no way of doing democracy by interning Khaleda to hold elections and sending anyone of her party who dared to talk to jail. This culture has to change.
Khaleda has called for dialogues to resolve the crisis and look forward to an election in which all parties and above all, the people, will take part. While this is the right approach we should also remind her that such dialogues should be in its true spirit and not only to fool the people, as we have seen prior to the election.
But at the same breath, we have to point out some other overtures of Khaleda's speech.
While denouncing the pre-election violence and the postelection attacks on Hindus, she has flatly put the blame on the
government and the Awami League. She has also mentioned media reports to support her claims.
This is denying the fact, flatly. The mainstream media have reported extensively on the violence and attacks. There is no denying that these were carried out by Jamaat and BNP activists. Khaleda also did not condemn such activities. And she is now trying to shift the blame.
She has also termed this government "illegal". This is a travesty of truth. The new government has been created through a legally right election. But of course, this government does not enjoy the people's mandate as only half the seats were contested and only 20 percent votes were cast if the total number of voters is considered. Such poor turnout cannot be a base of a democratic government.
Khaleda's two more points evoke many questions. She has said she will fight fundamentalism and terrorism. She has also said she would work for spread of women's education.
We recall her uninhibited support for the fundamentalist group Hefajat and accepting its highly objectionable and quaint 13-point demand, realisation of which would take the country back. We recall how Hefajat wants to block education to women.
Only future could tell if she will come good on her commitment on these two counts.