How is Awami League? Will the party be able to hold its council within the Election Commission's stipulated time? With the ministers embroiled in affairs of the state, several leaders inert and inactive and many more having passed away since the last council, the party may not be able to meet the deadline... by ANWAR PARVEZ HALIM Awami League swept to power on the dream of a "digital Bangladesh". Recently Sajib Wazed Joy, son and advisor of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, visited the country and spoke in the same lines of building a digital Bangladesh. In fact, "digital Bangladesh" has become a key phrase now and people's curiousity about what this means is growing by the day. Digital gaffes Of course, everyone in this digital day and age are well aware of computer slip-ups and electronic errors. And Awami League's website has its fair share of digital gaffes. Since Awami League's last council, held on December 26, 2002, the party has had its advisory council, central committee, secretaries, national committee, sub-committees and so on. The members of these bodies total 292 in all. These names are listed in the latest update of Awami League's website, yet at least 19 persons on the list have long since passed away. The word 'late' has been added to seven of their names while the remaining 12 are just named with no suffix. Any newcomer to the website will assume these persons are alive. As for those with 'late' suffixed to their names, how can they be members when they are not even alive? Awami League has a Centre for Research. This centre could have updated the website and avoided the mistakes.. All said and done, Awami League admittedly has the most developed and informative website as compared to the other political parties of the country. Advisory council The Awami League website (www.albd.org), among other information, lists the names of all the members of its various committees. An analysis of these committees can give a fair picture of the party's present organisational state. Twelve of the 46 members of Awami League's advisory council have passed away. The deceased leaders include SAMS Kibria, Abdul Mannan, Abdul Momen, Gaziul Haq, ASHK Sadek, Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, General Mustafizur Rahman, Advocate Ozair Faruk, Siddique Hossain, Dr. MA Qadri, Dr. Shamsul Huda Haroun and Imamuddin Ahmed. Of the living 34 members, Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, Khandakar Musharraf Hossain, Reza Ali, AH Mahmud Ali and SA Abu Bakr have become MPs. Of them, two have become ministers. They are Abdul Mal Abdul Muhith and Engineer Musharraf Hossain. Dr. Saidur Rahman and SM Nurunnabi live abroad. Among the advisors, Dr. SA Malek, M Abdur Rahim, Engineer Mazharul Islam, Abdur Rab Chowdhury, Maj. Gen. (retd) Golam Mowla and Maj. Gen. (retd) AMSA Amin are inactive due to ill-health, age and other reasons. The remaining advisors are more or less active. Presidium Awami League has 13 presidium members. Of the 13 listed presidium members, Abdus Samad Azad is deceased. Zohra Tajuddin and Ataur Rahman Kaiser are inactive. Of the remaining 10, Zillur Rahman is President and Matia Chowdhury is Minister for Agriculture. The other eight presidium members have not been given place in the cabinet. They are Sajeda Chowdhury, Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Sheikh Selim and Kazi Zafrullah. At the centre, the party President Sheikh Hasina is Prime Minister. Acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam has been made minister, but General Secretary Abdul Jalil has been deprived of a place in the cabinet. There is no guarantee that his luck will change in the future. Secretaries According to the party's website, Awami League presently has 30 secretaries. Of them, at present, 10 have been placed in the cabinet Abdul Mannan, Dr. Abdur Razzak, Nurul Islam Nahid, Col. (retd) Faruk Khan, Syed Abul Hossain, Sahara Khatun, Yafes Osman, Sheikh Abdullah, Hasan Masud and Dipu Moni. In the meantime, Akhteruzzaman, Mukul Bose, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Dewan Saifur Arefin Tutul, Najma Rahman, Alamgir Kumkum and Habibur Rahman Siraj are not very visible in party activities. Mahmudur Rahman Manna is often seen on TV talk-shows, but has reportedly fallen from Hasina's grace because of his role as a reformist. Saber Hossain Chowdhury is in the same boat. From various leaders of the party it has been learnt that Sheikh Hasina places the most importance on the presidium. They are the most powerful in the party and in future they will be seen in key positions. Obaidul Kader may not have been made a minister, but Hasina assigns him to the important task of running the party. Party sources claim that at the coming council Obaidul Kader may be made General Secretary. Members of the central committee Two of the 26 central committee members have passed away. They are former Mayor Mohammed Hanif and Sudhangshu Shekhar Halder. Four have been made ministers. They are Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Raziuddin Raju, Begum Monnujan Sufian and Mustafizur Rahman Fizer. Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Talukdar Abdul Khaleq and Khairuzzaman Liton have been made mayors of Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi respectively. In the meantime, Abdul Hasnat Abdullah, Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Akhteruzzaman Babu, Mustafa Rashidi Suja and Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhuntu are relatively inactive for the time being. As many of them face corruption and criminal charges, their position in the party is shaky too. Many are of the opinion that these leaders will not be able to return to their former posts in the party. Not having secured nominations in the election, a number of leaders were rather miffed and remained aloof from the party initially, but are now back in full swing. These include Prof.. Abu Sayeed, KM Jahangir and Mohammed Nasim. Having being a reformist, Mohammed Omar Ali is not in very good standing. Lotus Kamal MP has become active. Engineer Mosharraf Hossain, not being given a place in the cabinet, has been silent. Assistant secretaries of the sub-committee There are 113 assistant secretaries. Of them, two have died -- Rashida Mohiuddin from illness and Mushtaque Ahmed Sentu in the August 21 grenade blast. And six of the assistant secretaries were elected as members of the parliament in the last election. They are Sohel Taj, Manzur Qader Quraishi, Iqbalur Rahim, Nurul Islam Sujan, Nasirul Hamid Bipu and Khaleda Mahmud Chowdhury. Of them, only Sohel Taj was made minister but now he too has reportedly resigned. (The Prime Minister has not accepted his resignation but given him extended leave.) Mahbubul Huq Shakil has been made DPS to the Prime Minister and Abdus Sobhan Golap has been made Special Assistant to the Prime Minister. Among these young leaders, quite a few are inactive at present. These include Bahalul Majnu Chunnu, Mainuddin Hasan Chowdhury, Mosharraf Hossain, Jasimuddin Ahmed, Adv. Mostaque Hossain, Eng. Akhtarul Alam, Dr. Muhammed Yusuf, Dr. Ehsanul Huq Khaleque, Shammi Ahmed, Syed Sheyekul Arefin, Najibur Rahman Nipu, Md. Ismail Hossain, Kamrul Morshed Khoka, Ruhul Amin, Ali Haider, Kazi Ebadat Hossain, Adv. Shafiq Mohammed Pintu, Ripon, Syed Fazlul Rahman, Abdur Rauf Sikder, Mujibur Rahman Howladar, Nasiruddin Pintu, Khoka Sikder and Khijir Hayat Lizu. A certain assistant secretary, on condition on anonymity, tells PROBE, "Some of the assistant secretaries are politicians while others are actually businessmen. The politicians give time to the party, but most of the others have bagged their posts by proffering handsome donations. They are now inactive." Among the active ones, many are nursing grudges for not being nominated in the last election. They feel they are not being given due recognition for their work by the seniors and that is why they are unwilling to give their all to their party as in the past.. Many young leaders spoke in this vein, though, at the same time they are hoping for a change in luck with the coming council. National committee There are 47 members of the national committee, one each in 47 districts. Of them, Ahsanullah Master of Gazipur and Mumtazuddin of Natore were killed by criminal assailants. The others may be active, but somewhat disorganised. Other than them, there are another 14 members nominated by the party President. A standstill In the last election many bigwigs of the party were not given nomination. Again, among many important leaders who were nominated and even became MPs, many were not accommodated in the cabinet. Most of them were leaders of the sixties, leaders who had been groomed in politics by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Some of them had become reformists after 1/11 and thus fell from Hasina's grace. Hasina's word is law in the party and she is now focussing on young leadership. She has made them ministers too. But concentrating on their cabinet duties, these young ones are failing to look after party matters. And the veterans are smarting from the blatant cold shoulder they have been given. No matter what façade they may adopt, they find it difficult to pay attention to party work. And this is having an effect on the organisational activities. While senior leaders Tofail Ahmed, Amir Hossain Amu and Abdur Razzak have a lot of influence all over the country, they are not able to wield that influence now. They cannot form committees with people of their own choice without the nod from Hasina. In fact, according to sources, many of the seniors have been given the message that they will be dropped from the committee in the coming council. This has left them disinterested in party work. In the district committees, tussles are in full force over the various posts. This too has slowed down the organisational activities to a near standstill. All this is causing the delay in holding the council, sources say. When contacted about the party's organisational activities, at least half a dozen of the leaders were unwilling to speak in this regard. They even refused to be named. Ministers of change Other than three or four ministers, Hasina has selected relatively young persons for her cabinet. They are the "soldiers of change". From their statements and speeches, it seems as if one of their priorities is to highlight the faults of the four-party alliance government. As for their performance regarding their respective ministries, many are found to be short of the mark. Did the veteran leader Matia Chowdhury, who is Minister for Agriculture, manage to deliver fertiliser and pesticide in time to the farmers, as she claims? And that is not the only concern. Farmers are not getting value for their crops and are at a total loss, as far as media reports go. And if medals were awarded for volubility, Commerce Minister Col. (retd) Faruk Khan would be decorated heavily by now. Yet the prices of rice, lentils and other essentials are shooting up. Food Minister Dr. Razzak, on the other hand, had devoted himself to the cause of food security and opts for work rather than words. And from the outset of their careers in the cabinet, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hasan Masud have busied themselves with trips abroad. But the people are still in the dark of their achievements so far. Bangladesh's migrant workers are being sent back in hordes. Some are returning as corpses. And Labour Minister Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain says that he is "observing the situation". Home Minister Advocate Sahara Khatun has said she will uproot terrorists even if she has to dig deep underground. In the meantime, murder, extortion, muggings, robbery and crime in general is on a steady rise. State Minister for Home Affairs Sohel Taj seems to be overwhelmed by the volume of work and even tendered in his resignation. This has not been accepted; he has been given extended leave instead. Perhaps a break from work will revive his spirit. The ministers are committed to change, so much so that they are unable to give time to affairs of the party.. This has created a distance between them and the party workers and supporters. Surprises ahead Down from the grassroots up till the centre, the party is abuzz with rumours that the coming council has a large number of surprises in store. What are these surprises? Certain senior leaders feel that Sheikh Hasina may appoint certain loyal followers to the committee which will mean the axe for several of the veterans. A number of think-tanks affiliated with the party, however, tell PROBE that if the leaders of the sixties are dropped, the committee will be weakened considerably. They say that Hasina will retain the senior leaders in respectable positions and then rearrange the party. A central leader on the party, preferring anonymity, says, "Sheikh Mujib was the leader of these leaders of the sixties. Sheikh Hasina is the leader of her loyal following at the present. Now it all depends on her whether she will rely on her loyal following alone or whether she will hold on to the followers of Sheikh Mujib. The coming council will answer these questions." Sources within the party say that neither Abdul Jalil nor Syed Ashraful Islam will be given the post of General Secretary. There is a possibility of Matia Chowdhury being given the post, though the most likely choice is Obaidul Kader. According to the party constitution, the council is to be held every three years. Awami League's last council was held on December 26, 2002. Six years has passed since then; two councils could have been held in this time. There is always the excuse, of course, that the council could not be held during the two-year unconstitutional rule of the caretaker government. But the real reason behind the failure to hold the council is plain and simple -- a degenerated political culture which has gripped the country over the past years. The Election Commission has stipulated that the political parties must hold their councils by July 25 this year, at the latest. Party leaders say that the BDR incident, which took place so soon after the government came to power, had set things back considerably. On March 28 a sub-committee was formed to amend the party constitution and prepare for the council. Sheikh Hasina head the sub-committee. This 20-member committee hasn't been able to hold a single meeting as yet. Presidium member Kazi Zafrullah, however, has said that preparations for the council are on in full swing. He says that it may not be possible to hold the council in July, but it will certainly be held this year. He could not give a specific date or month, however. The draft for the party constitution and manifesto is almost final. However, it has not been possible so far to form new committees in all the 72 organisational districts. The same situation prevails in the party's front organisations. It may take another three or four months for these committees to be formed. And then Sheikh Hasina will summon the council. Lost leaders The following leaders of Awami League passed away over the last eight years: SAMS Kibria, Member, Advisory Council ASHK Sadek Member, Advisory Council Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, Member, Advisory Council Abdul Mannan, Member, Advisory Council Abdul Momen, Member, Advisory Council Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, Member, Advisory Council Siddique Hossain, Member, Advisory Council Imamuddin Ahmed, Member, Advisory Council Dr. Shamsul Huda Haroun, Member, Advisory Council Adv. Ozair Faruk, Member, Advisory Council Gaziul Haq, Member, Advisory Council Dr. MA Qadri, Member, Advisory Council Abdus Samad Azad, Member, Presidium Member Mohammed Hanif, Central Committee Member Sudhangshu Shekhar Halder, Central Committee Member Rashida Mohiuddin, Assistant Secretary, Sub-Committee Mushtaque Ahmed Sentu, Assistant Secretary, Sub-Committee Md. Momtaz Uddin, National Committee Member Ahsanullah Master, National Committee Member
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