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A bizarre freefall: Butterfly in the stomach!
A classic British wit — timeless, hilarious and razor-sharp giving nothing away reads: Dasraeli and Gladstone were contemporary political leaders with great abilities but who fought each other like wildcats. Once a journalist asked Disraeli to explain the difference between 'disaster' and 'calamity.' Pat came Dasraeli's reply: 'If Gladstone falls in a ditch it is disaster. When someone rescues him from the ditch it is calamity.'
Bangladesh is unique with her female pair as leader of the government and that in the opposition, but the anecdote of the men's world fits in with Khaleda Zia's current circumstances. Her being virtually incommunicado means she is in a comer which is a 'disaster' for her and her party, and if she is let
go of, it will be a 'calamity,' so to speak, in the administration's eye.
A high-pitched semantic wrangling rages over whether we are seeing the beginnings of an insurgency situation or facing wanton terrorism and counter-terrorism tipping into state-terrorism. But the core concern is in making and hurling patrol bombs at any moving vehicles causing maximum damage to a maximum number. The perpetrators are uncatchable and elusive even in such a densely populous country like ours. And with their human intelligence to creep in on the gaps along the police vigilance routes easy escapades are ensured. A post-World War vintage device, Molotov cocktail is handy in guerilla style hit and run operations we are yet to find an answer for.
Chasing the bomb-makers and throwers is like searching needle in the haystack. "The most featureless and commonplace a crime (except in its devastating effect) is, the more difficult to bring it home," so confessed Sherlock Holmes in the book The Adventures.
Both government and BNP-led alliance are making brave faces but they are severely upset inside. The former thinks it is in effective control whilst the latter claims that after one-
month of oborodh laced with lethal doses of hartal, it is succeeding with all its morbidity. The truth is both seem harassed, overworked and strenuously stretched out in terms of mental strength to cope with a seamlessly blown over storm.
The most pathetic dimension of terrorism and counter-terrorism multiplying violence and having people burn in Dante's Inferno is that no leader takes responsibility for the consequences of their actions. But as they say: 'Every unpunished delinquency has a family of delinquencies.'
Both the claims of success are based on what is called spontaneous support of the people which is a blatant lie. Even the politically unaffil-iated majority and those with political labels but non-committal disapprove of the way things have come to such a critical pass.
Opposition says it has its back to the wall; the government says it has no alternative but to be stern and the people say they too have their backs to the wall. Who has the initiative then to lead the country out of the mire?
Francis Bacon says: "He who doesn't apply New Remedies, must expect New Evils; for time is the greatest innovator” (Essays of Innovation).
Hawks in Awami League say that the matter will be resolved only through victory or defeat like in a duel in the Roman amphitheater where a rebel would have been thrown to the wolves as an appetiser before the real fight began. It finds a strange resonance in the exact opposite desperation in the BNP that should it stop now, it might be finished off. Therefore, we are seeing conspiracy out of fear and fear out of conspiracy - a selfreinforcing vicious cycle.
In spite of all these, a glimmer of good sense and facts facing disposition is surfacing through the crevices of locked consciousness on both sides. One almost feels they are looking for saving graces to come out of the relentless fighting mode.
Noticeably, from the government side the 7 or 15 days formula to get it over with is hunkering down to 'more time needed’ against a party of BNP's size with 30% vote bank. This is conceded by none other than the acid tongued AL organising secretary Mohammad Hanif.
Softer signals are peeping half in and half out - last Saturday, Awami League presidium member Obaidul Quader hinted that there is no reason to think that the government
wouldn't budge in greater national interest. Information mminister too has sounded forthcoming. But at the same time you have Food Minister Quamrul Islam say: "Those who are pressing for talks amid this anarchy are like cancer, septic boils ...”
Professor Imajuddin stirred up the placid waters of BNP politics. He wondered aloud as to why not we go by the Sri Lankan experience; have an election under the incumbent as had been the case with Rajapakse who was also a contender for presidency.
An impassioned call is issued to both sides on behalf of the public that they declare a moratorium on oborodh and hartal and counter measures by the government to provide a breathing space for a cool and calm discourse over the entirety of the political standoff. Just as between warring parties ceasefires are called so also the major political stakeholders embrace and cease confrontation without any loss of time.
As Thomas Hobbes said: "The first and fundamental law of nature ... is to seek peace and follow it" (Leviathan).
The writer is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.
E-mail: husain.imam@thedailystar.net