Bangla blogs discuss politics and elections in Bangladesh

A growing sense of discontent in palpable in the Bangla blog world with citizens of Bangladesh voicing strong concerns about the current socio-political condition in the country.

Chief Election Commissioner Mr. M. A. Aziz has taken 3 months leave of absence, succumbing to the mounting pressure of many political parties demanding his resignation. He was alleged to be a tool of election engineering devised by the 4 party alliances, which just finished the tenure. This issue has prompted many political parties led by the 14 party alliances to resort to continuous blockades across the country and ensuing violence which has gripped the nation in the past few weeks. Anisuzzaman tells us that both the leading political parties Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Awami League (AL) have claimed moral victory over the affair. He quotes from a famous Bangladeshi author Humayun Ahmed, who had once written that politics is the only game where both opponents could win at the same time.

Bloggers are demanding an end to this nightmarish political game, which has brought the country to a grinding halt. The reactions continue to pour in fast and furious.

Konfusius is praying that the violence stops and that the people concerned come to their senses before some irrevocable damage is done to the country’s reputation. Tirondaj is frustrated with the state of his country’s democracy. He feels that irrespective of who wins the election, there will be little betterment in the life of the common man. Rejecting all current political parties as not being reflective of true public opinion, he expresses hope that soon a day will arrive when the citizens, shaken out of their ennui, will hold their politicians accountable and bring in a new era of true democracy.

However, Rezwan feels that the time to act is now and that it is the responsibility of every citizen to work towards a free and fair election in the country. As the first step he urges the people to voice their protests against the current events by wearing black bands, black badges and/or putting up black flags in their homes.

9 comments

  • zill fish

    im a teenager who is nu 2 this kindof things bt due 2 da current setuation im compleld 2 comment.1 thing i kon that we don hv a future in this country unless this kind of politicial bull shit(had 2 use profanity)remains.i don wan them 2 b angels(politicana)bt at least act as a civilized person.plz think about da future of BANGLADESH…….?

  • […] 原文:Bangla blogs discuss politics and elections in Bangladesh 作者:Aparna Ray 译者:Leonard […]

  • […] 原文:Bangla blogs discuss politics and elections in Bangladesh 作者:Aparna Ray 譯者:Leonard […]

  • Maya Bini

    Dr. Younus’s recent utterances need some rebuttals. He said just prior to the dissolution of the parliament that he intended to float a political party. Then he left the country on a world tour by dodging the national political situation. He resurfaced again after the caretaker government took over. And this time he attended a ceremony thrown in his honor by the partisan BNP nominated president Iazuddin. His empty speech had applauds from a spineless president who has been subserviently carrying out strategies designed by Khaleda, Tarek and Nizami to set the stage for massive rigging of polls in 2007. The function was hardly attended by any notables of the country except for some BNP loyalists trying to associate themselves with him to give some boost to their waning popularity. He again attended a function arranged by the mayor of Dhaka at the parliament house premises. The audience was mostly former BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami ministers and their supporters. Dr.Younus had the audacity to propose his solution for resolving the current political turmoil. The solution was a ridiculous proposal that will not only derail the nascent democratic process in the country but also prepare the ground for illegitimate juntas headed by pseudogurus like Dr.Younus to sell off the country to his foreign masters. It would then be easier for him to invite PSCs from his masters to siphon off our 45 tcf of natural gas reserves at a cheap price. Petty commission from that pilferage will end up in his grameen account to fund his high interest banking venture.

    He further went to the extent of advising one of the major parties to call off their agitation program against naked injustice and unfairness of Khaleda-Iazuddin duo while keeping mum on the rampant corruption the outgoing government had indulged in over the last five years. It seems that he has been devising some graceful exit strategy for BNP after their disastrous performance in governing the country. It is almost clear that BNP will be routed if a free and fair election is held. The majority of the village folks would come out in droves to pulverize BNP this time for its myriad failures.

    By attending these two partisan occasions Dr. Younus has clearly identified himself as a BNP-Jamaat leaning so-called intellectual. He should know that the Awami League is a populist party that enjoys tremendous following at the grassroots level in especially rural Bangladesh. If Dr. Younus thinks that he can somehow slip into power through some illegitimate way with the blessings of a junta then he should think twice. It is not unlikely since he had his grameen operations authorized and launched during the autocratic rule of Ershad. His political solution will actually give reprieve to the dacoits and killers who had plundered the economy and vandalized all branches of the government machinery by politicizing it. He is more intent on helping BNP to get away with its crimes. He has never said a word about the atrocities against minorities, assassinations of opposition MPs and assassination attempts for annihilation of the top brass of Awami League, and irregularities in all spheres of governance. By keeping silent he has exposed his weakness of strength of character to speak out against lies and falsehood. He has clearly identified himself with BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami and it is for sure he will never be trusted by Awami League in future. His escapist opportunist tendencies to evade facts have been exposed.

    Dr. Younus’s innovation is nothing new. Similar programs have been going on in many poor countries for over four decades carried out by dedicated honest souls without any patronization by any vested interested quarters. Akhter Hamid Khan and Mahbubul Alam were the pioneers in this field. Dr. Younus had been deliberately pushed into limelight by a billionaires’ club consisting of tycoons like Gates, Soros, Branson, etc., to promote their agenda. He is just a pawn in their game-plan to penetrate heavily populated economically viable countries like Bangladesh through parallel companies like grameen phone (a sister concern of Scandinavian Telenor) to siphon out millions of dollars out of embryonic economies by enjoying unheard of tax breaks unthinkable in those countries.

    Dr. Younus has powerful friends at high places. He can do a great service to the nation if he can persuade his influential friends to help us recover our plundered and looted money from banks and investments in the US, Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Middle East. I can even name a few banks where Tarek, Mamun, Babar and a host of other smugglers and terrorists have deposited their wealth. The banks include HSBC, Citibank,Barclays, Chemical Bank, Bank of America, First Virginia Bank, Swiss Bank, Standard Chartered to name a few. He should ask grameen bank financiers and promoters to finance lobbyist firms to convince legislators in enacting laws and pass bills to plug leakages in international banking to prevent money laundering by politicians. This was how Khaleda Zia had put millions of dollars into lobbyist firms in the US through Tarek, Babar and Morshed Khan to influence the Congress and the Bush administration. If Dr.Younus can get us back the booty stashed by Khaleda, her son and relatives, and cronies in banks abroad Bangladesh can easily finance its next five budgets and appreciably reduce its budget deficits. Instead of openly identifying himself with fascist forces he must help us rightfully recover 2-3% of the annual GDPs that was robbed from the nation by Dr. Younus’ buddies inside BNP. Perhaps a fraction of our retrieved plundered treasury can then be doled out to Dr. Younus to distribute among destitutes without any strings attached (for God’s sake no staggering interest rates please!!).

    Dr. Younus should also save the enormous amount of money he wastes on lavish trips abroad to invest on the poor and downtrodden instead of relying solely on his mentors.

    Wasn’t it Dr. Younus who had partnered with Monsanto in the past to introduce the ‘terminator’ hybrid rice gene in Bangladesh to eliminate the indigenously developed wild strains of Bangladeshi rice varieties evolved through centuries of natural selection? Was it not Soros, the financial wizard and venture/vulture capitalist who had soared high over the skies of Asia in the 90s to swoop on the mighty and fragile economies alike to reap profit by devaluation of the local currencies? Dr. Younus must resist the temptation to hyperinflate himself beyond what he really is. He should not be a mere tool to let unbridled foreign profiteers raid our economies and run away with the booty through the courtesy of Khaledas and Tareks.

    Dr. Younus should come out of his secure hideout and launch his next project the GrameenPolitics (GP) foundation to further the interests of the Gates-Soros consortium.

    Dr. Younus must not end up on the side of the most corrupt government in the history of Bangladesh. He ought to reeducate himself on the principles of democracy. He should learn the following paragraph by heart so that he doesn’t jeopardize Bangladesh’s fledgling democracy:

    “ A government-controlled media, everywhere it exists, is an anti-democratic institution. Similarly an executive branch that wields influence in the judiciary or bureaucracy poisons democracy. An educational system that does not teach economically viable skills is a disservice to the nation. Corruption denies citizens their equality, and it prevents achievement-based social mobility”.

  • Rezwan

    I would not rather jump to a conclusion that Dr. Yunus is a hired goon of some party. What may seem to you as a mere agitation program interprets to many as blockades and violences, which generates worries about children not finishing their school final in time, loosing millions of dollars in the economy everyday and people losing faith in democracy. I see nothing wrong in Yunus’s call to end blockade. Nor do people endorse the election engineering attempts of BNP-Jamaat or their corruption. Awami League is not ethical either in its practice of democracy.

    Clearly the nation is divided into two political ideologies and we need a vision to co-exist the both ideologies and exert tolerance. The solution must include both the stream, not completely disregarding one.

    There are more debates to this issue. Take a look.

    Oh Maya Bini, Nice quote you have got their. I helped Jane with the insight of Bangladesh before she wrote that article in Arab News.

  • Amir Ali

    When the whole nation is asleep shameless Iajuddin, a thief and corrupt brat and a man servant of Khaleda decides to address the nation.

    Today, again at the dead of the night, the islamic fascist BNP-Jamaat alliance has directed venom-fanged Iajuddin to declare emergency by deploying army to brutalize the Grand Alliance supporters.

    Iajuddin must be dragged out of Bangabhaban and shredded into pieces.

    Down with Islamic fascist Iajuddin-Khaleda-Tarek-Babar clique!

  • Shariar Javed

    The election commissioners including the CEC should have resigned following Iajuddin’s speech acknowledging his total failure as the chief advisor. That is the norm in any civilized country.

    I don’t understand why these shameless people are still hanging on. They should be booted out.

    The Election Commission should be reconstituted with credible, head-high and resolute people. And it must be absolutely independent. The EC should be rebuilt and it must regain the stature it ought to have.

    How about Hassan Mashud Choudhury or Akbar Ali Khan taking over as CEC. I don’t want to any more justices polluting this sacred spot in our constitution.

    Awami League and BNP should clean their houses of mafias and thugs masquerading as politicians. They must bring in professionals, not realtives, chamchas and looteras into the PM’s office and government high posts.

    Otherwise, people like like Dr. Yunus will hasten the arrival of military dictatorship for a decade or so by unmasking politics as a scam profession to cheat common people.

    Awami League and BNP better be careful! Otherwise a sea of Yunuses will mushroom out!

    Politics doesn’t mean profiteering, land grabbing, smuggling, moneylaundering, terrorizing and establishing dynasties at the expense of poor down-trodden people of Bangladesh.

    Politicians of this country are the pollutants!

    Common people of Bangladesh are cleverer than the dour, dull, gray- matter-less, blockhead, jackass filthy politicians of Bangladesh.

  • Nighthawk

    US concerns mount over Bangladesh political strife
    02 Feb 2007 00:04:56 GMT
    Source: Reuters
    By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent

    WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Bangladesh must sort out its long-running political dispute before turmoil that has killed at least 45 people does further damage to the country’s economy and society, U.S. officials and experts said.
    Bangladesh has been in political crisis since the dissolution of the government at the end of its five-year term on Oct. 28 and the appointment of an interim administration that was supposed to oversee elections originally scheduled for Jan. 22 but were postponed indefinitely.
    “We would like to see free, fair, nonviolent and credible elections in which all can participate as soon as possible,” Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, said on Thursday.
    He said the United States, which on Jan. 12 issued a warning to U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Bangladesh, would monitor court rulings and decisions by electoral authorities as national leaders wrangle over rescheduling the vote.
    At a U.S. Institute of Peace panel on Bangladesh on Wednesday, Amnesty International presented a picture of widespread abuses in the Islam-majority country of 147 million people.
    “We see a very dangerous situation for human rights in Bangladesh,” said T. Kumar, Asia & Pacific advocacy director for Amnesty International USA.
    He cited accounts of “mass arrests, numerous brutal forms of torture such as electric shock, rape of women with complete impunity, and forced confessions.”
    Peter Manikas, who was scheduled to be an election monitor, said a recent trip to Bangladesh indicated that some people spoke of military rule under a “Pakistan model” or “Thailand option” — two Asian states run by military men after coups.
    “There is a widespread agreement that the caretaker government is a civilian facade for what is essentially a military regime,” said Manikas, regional director for Asia at the National Democratic Institute.
    It was “less important when the election will be held than knowing that it will be held,” he said, but warned that a lengthy delay would run into the mid-year monsoon season when it would be hard to conduct polls in the flood-prone country.
    The U.S. Institute of Peace, a think tank focusing on conflict spots around the world, said in a recent report that the risk for the United States was that a once-moderate Muslim democracy could become a haven for Islamist militants.
    It said the United States and the Commonwealth should consider punitive measures if the army declared martial law or took other unconstitutional steps.
    ———————————————————————————————————
    Comments on the report by anonymous (since Bangladesh is now under Islamic fascist rule):

    It is a very alarming news indeed. I have solid reasons to suspect that the Army is being used by BNP and the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami to destroy democracy in Bangladesh.

    Fakruddin and most of his advisors and appointees are BNP loyalists and many of them are his relatives. I am shocked to see that a former World Bank employee is involved in fascist politics. He was a NSF follower during Pakistani days and he and Mushfequr Rahman (a former BNP MP and also an AED of WB) would do everything to smear Awami League’s sure ascension to power if elections are held on schedule. I think Fakruddin is now implementing the Islamic fascist agenda of the former BNP and islamic fundamentalist war-criminals orf 1971 Jamaat-e-Islami in a subtle way in the guise of so called caretaker government which has no legitimacy to rule Bangladesh. He is acting as BNP’s third team to salvage BNP’s lost grounds.

    Fakruddin and BNP-Jamaat leaning army manipulators should realize that Bangladesh is neither Pakistan nor Thailand. Fakruddin should know that Bangladesh is the only country though poor in South Asia has fought for its independence and democracy.

    Fakruddin is partisan. He has not caught a single high up element of the previous most corrupt government in Bangladesh’s history. When he did most of the prominent ones have not been touched. He himself was part of that government when he served under Khaleda Zia as her governor of Bangladesh Bank.Then he obtained another job as CEO through Saifur Rahman’s courtesy. He had witnessed with his own eyes during his tenure the total ruination of Bangladesh’s moral fabric.

    Instead he has unnecessarily harassed and even killed Awami League leaders and workers through extrajudicial killings. His draconian laws will not last in Bangladesh’s volatile politics. I have no sympathy for Nasim because he is the most corrupt amongst the AL politicians. He should be barred from standing in elections.

    Fakruddin should not think that he can get away with his illegal activities so far and I wonder if the World Bank, IMF and Professor Yunus is behind the rise of neo-dictatorship in Bangladesh.

    Awami League must clean its house on its own. Awami League should revamp itself and cleanse itself of corrupt elements like Nasim.

    Awami League will sweep the elections once the fascist Fakruddin-BNP-Jamaat-Yunus illegitimate power grabbers are toppled. Fakruddin and his gang of four including Khaleda Zia, Yunus and Jamaat must be held accountable for derailing democracy in Bangladesh in 2007.

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