Why Hasina refuses to prosecute Gen. Moeen, Fakhruddin? Bangladesh is now faced with a potentially serious problem where the legality of the government's past and present will be questioned. The big question will be: "Did the elections that bring the incumbent Government into office reflect the people's will or were they stage-managed to bring a particular party into power?" If it could prove beyond reasonable doubt that the results of the past general elections were manipulated, a question may be asked if the Government that was elected is legal? Then there is the question of international recognition. Our elections are deemed valid if they are validated by the US, the EU and their cohorts. Our December 2008 elections were also validated by this group and our Prime Minister has reaffirmed that our last elections were accepted by the "international community". The same community has also validated the elections held in Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan. Lest we forget that the same "international community" did not validate the election results of Algeria decades ago when the anti-West parties had swept the polls there. This "international community" has also validated all despotic governments of South and Central America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. It is therefore hardly reassuring that this same "international community" has validated our present government, as proudly claimed by the Prime Minister. For a long time the West had ganged up on the rest of the world but the winds of change is now beginning to blow, albeit softly. The Group of 7 (later 8) has now transformed itself into the Group of 20 as the former colonial powers and the neo-colonial powers are giving way to the emerging nations. Unfortunately this Group of 20 still reflects those countries which are in the good books of the Group of 7. So much for the certification by the so-called "international community", what, however, is needed is the acceptance by the people of the country that the December elections were fair. Lack of democratic practice within our two major political parties is the main culprit responsible for the lack of democracy in the country. This is coupled with the use of the services of the military intelligence agencies in reining in the recalcitrant politicians, a practice dating back from the days of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. Some politicians do rebel and speak out as Z A Bhutto did, precipitating the fall of the Ayub regime and more recently M A Jalil, pulling the plug on the elections that brought the Awami League to power for the second time. Jalil has only confirmed what most non partisan elements have been suspecting all along, that the December elections did not reflect the will of the people in so far as the size of the "Maha Jote" victory was concerned. It is unlikely that Jalil will be able to substantiate his claims that the Interim Government and the military intelligence manipulated the results, just as no corruption charge have ever been proved against politicians, but the stigma has largely been established. Jalil has since retracted his statement but the cat is out of the bag. Furthermore, in his attempt to disprove Jalil and to destroy his credibility, the Awami League General Secretary and senior Minister of the Government, Sayed Ashraful Islam confirmed that the powers that be at the time had offered Sheikh Hasina to become the Prime Minister of the country without any elections and when this is read in conjunction with the Prime Minister's own statement, "I know how to make deals" and her strong refusal to take action against Moeen U Ahmed and Fakhruddin Ahmed for their extra-constitutional activities only adds to the credibility of Jalil's statement. |
__._,_.___
