| Jalil puts AL govt's legitimacy nto question The Awami League-led grand coalition Government is heading towards a big credibility crisis this time bringing forth the question of its legitimacy of coming to power. The situation has developed with the disclosure of former party general secretary Abdul Jalil that this government has come to power under a frame-up election facilitated by the Army Intelligence (DGFI) denying the nation a free and fair election. Jalil made the disclosure to newsmen in London recently drawing stormy reaction from Awami League (AL) leadership at home and abroad and also wayside assault on him in Birmingham city the next day when he went there to open a money exchange house. Bunch of inept loyalists The incident also indicates a growing crisis within the party as Jalil severely criticised the present AL leadership and the cabinet as a bunch of inefficient and inexperienced loyalists to party chief Sheikh Hasina. He said these people would not only fail to run the party but would also fail to give proper leadership to the nation, particularly when most of them were agents, not political leaders. People wonder how and why Abdul Jalil is speaking openly against the party and the government. If he is just speaking his mind and pains or otherwise, he is acting as the mouthpiece of other leaders of the party, whom Sheikh Hasina has thrown out from the party presidium and national working committee. AL leaders: Govt's weakness Observers are keeping watch on the movement of Tofail Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Amir Hossain Amu and Suranjit Sen Gupta, who lost their presidium posts in the recent reshuffle. How are they reacting to the changing time? Tofail in a recent statement said party advisory council as the exit point from national politics is not his place to sit; he would better be content with the party primary membership which costs Taka 10 only. Hasina has also dropped all the seven party organizing secretaries in the recent reshuffle and put people -- who are having direct relation with her family -- in all-important sensitive posts. She justified her action saying that on the basis of the party councilors' opinions, she had purged the reformists, who wanted to oust her from the party leadership. She said such decision was necessary to remove the credibility gap in the party's top leadership. But the question, which is now increasingly agitating the public mind is whether the Government is heading towards a big crisis from within the party as Jalil's latest expos�s suggest. If it is true, then the government may slowly become weak to perform its important work like holding trial of BDR mutiny, war crimes trial and handling of such other issues. It may also face snags in dealing with India, especially regarding big concessions it wants to provide its close neighbour. Delwar questions AL's legitimacy On Jalil's comment, BNP secretary general Khondker Delwar Hossain and some other senior party leaders said they have been talking of such massive frauds since the very beginning and Jalil's disclosure has only reconfirmed it. The development may thus have serious impact on Awami League and also on the government's moral justification and legitimacy to stay in power. An election, which does not reflect the people's verdict, cannot bring legitimacy to its beneficiaries, many observers here say. In this situation if the major opposition BNP, which lost the last elections beyond any foreseeable calculation, demands holding of a fresh election. Such demand may not be turned down at least unjustified. Covert negotiations Jalil further said 90 per cent of the ministers in the present grand coalition government, including the newly elected party general secretary and LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam are DGFI agents. He said, when Sheikh Hasina went on a visit to the USA during the tenure of the military-backed Caretaker Government, it was part of a deal with the army intelligence. Syed Ashraf fled the country to London fearing reprisal but within a few days he came back having struck a deal with the army intelligence to work towards its goal in domestic politics, Jalil said. Ashraf was then instrumental in all covert negotiations with the forces' intelligence and the subsequent deals with Awami League paving the way for bringing the party to power in exchange for indemnity to extra-constitutional action of the Army high command and the Caretaker Government it had installed in power. The media said the DGFI even allowed political emissaries from home and abroad during that time under the cover of darkness of night to visit Hasina in custody to strike the deal. 'Nonsense' Awami League leadership is, however, trying to give a damn to such allegations in public reaction terming Jalil's allegation a total lie. Many of them told newsmen last week that he was speaking 'nonsense' on being dropped from party presidium and also from the new cabinet of Sheikh Hasina. Partly supporting Jalil's allegation Syed Ashraf last week said they (DGFI) had even offered Hasina to become Prime Minister without contesting election but she declined the offer, he said trying to make clear she did not enter into any deal. In fact, the offer was to accept Gen Moyeen as the country's new president with Sheikh Hasina as prime minister in exchange of throwing Awami League's support behind him. The debate is still building on Jalil's comment as Awami League is preparing to decide the fate of the renegade former party secretary general in its forthcoming national working committee meeting on October 3. Sheikh Hasina during her visit to New York last week laughed out Jalil's allegations at a press conference after attending the UN General Assembly seesion. She said Jalil is cutting his own roots. If his allegations were true, he should immediately resign from Parliament to free him from the stigma of a frame-up election. She, moreover, avoided a direct answer to a question as to why she was not initiating action against former army chief Gen Moyeen, chief adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed and such other persons, who derailed the country from the course of a scheduled national election to put it under two years of extra-constitutional rule when not only Hasina and Khaleda but many other senior party leaders from both parties were jailed. She told the questioner, 'If a dog bites you, you are not expected to bite back.' Critics wonder how she can treat those persons with such slanderous comment at a time when she had welcomed the takeover of Gen Moyeen as the fruits of her movement. So the reality speaks out that there was a long nexus between Sheikh Hasina and Gen Moyeen and Jalil's allegation had just made it clear once again. Senior BNP leader Dr Khondker Mosharraf Hossain reacted on Jalil disclosure saying that the officially reported 87 percent voter turnout during the last election was itself a concocted figure. How was it possible, observers questioned, although the caretaker government and the Election Commission held the view that the 'huge voter turnout showed spontaneous participation of people in a free and fair' election the country has never seen before. They also look with suspicions now at the so-called 'election roadmap' as a roadmap to election betrayal when the EC and the caretaker government had attempted time and again to destroy BNP by organising a rival group as party reformists. Most observers now believe Gen Moyeen was an Indian prot�g�e, who appeared as an Awami League activist throughout the transition period to bring it to power as per Indian desire. DGFI just implemented the scheme. In 1996, the party won election creating an unusual situation starting a movement to set up a caretaker government, thereby breaking the normal constitutional process. Earlier in 1986, Hasina joined hands with autocrat Gen. Ershad to put into failure anti-Ershad democracy movement and knock BNP out of election race. More surprisingly, when Hasina returned home in 1981, the then president Ziaur Rahman was killed within a month. People here believe Ershad was the mastermind behind it and when he snatched power from late President Justice Abdus Sattar of BNP, Hasina said she was not unhappy either. The party wanted to deny victory to BNP in1991 when Justice Shahabuddin was planning to hand over power to Begum Khaleda Zia. In 2001 when BNP won the polls, Awami League sought to deny it by encouraging a coup from behind the scene, although it failed. Then it opened a floodgate of conspiracy to bring down BNP government under the so-called April 'trump card' conspiracy, which sought to encourage many party lawmakers to revolt. Awami League reportedly mobilised Taka 100 crore for the purpose as per estimation. Abdul Jalil, then the party general secretary, was publicly talking of imminent fall of the BNP government that time. Sheikh Hasina had authorised the scheme, he said. The October 2006 mayhem at Paltan was also the fruit of Hasina's call to party workers to gather on the spot with 'logi boitha' to destroy the country's democratic process. It ended in the killing of half a dozen Jamaat workers in the fight and subsequent 1/11 takeover of the military. Many people here believe Awami League may have more tough time to handle party dissidents and on the other hand, implement major election agenda. Moreover, its target to amend the Constitution to go back to 1972 Constitution may face credibility challenge at a time, when the government appears to have been sitting on a fraudulent election outcome. |
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