Shawdesh Desk:

AWAMI League leaders and supporters of the party in the mainstream media spun the recent visit of Uzra Zeya, the under-secretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights at the US state department, as favourable for the AL regime. They concluded that the regime had successfully ‘managed’ the visit by explaining that everything was hunky-dory in Bangladesh’s politics and that the regime would hold the next general election in a free and fair manner.

That was, of course, not the case. The AL regime, nevertheless, believed that it had ‘managed’ the US delegation because of its ostrich mindset at present. Like the ostrich that hides its head in the sand to go into denial about the dangers surrounding it believing the dangers would disappear, the AL regime believes likewise that if it refuses to acknowledge the dangers surrounding it, its dangers, too, would also go away.

Uzra Zeya had to be in the ostrich mindset herself to believe in the ruling party and that was not the case. She visited Dhaka fully aware that the Awami League had held two elections, the 2014 and the 2018 general elections, that were not only controversial but also a shame for Bangladesh. They had the US embassy in Dhaka to fill them in all the details about the state of Bangladesh’s politics.

The under-secretary, therefore, knew ahead of her visit to Dhaka that there were no contestants in 154 of the 300 seats in the 2014 election because the Bangladesh Nationalist Party had boycotted it, which made it a farce. She also knew that the Election Commission with leaders of the civil bureaucracy and the law enforcement agencies stuffed the ballot boxes in the 2018 election the night before the election day to help the AL regime win 293 of the 300 seats. She was, importantly, very much aware that the 15th amendment was responsible for the controversial and farcical 2014 and 2018 elections.

Uzra Zeya was also well aware of the way the 15th amendment had been adopted, its contents and intention because these are open secrets. The Awami League violated the constitution to make the 15th amendment constitutional in which chief justice Khairul Huq played a crucial role. These are also open secrets. He contradicted himself between his short and long judgements that he ‘wrote’ almost a year and a half after his retirement to annul the 13th or the caretaker government amendment that ironically the Awami League had forced the BNP-led government to adopt in its 1991–96 term through 173 days of general strike. The controversial annulment of the 13th amendment paved the way for the adoption of the 15th amendment.

The dubious intentions of the 15th amendment become obvious even under a casual examination. The amendment re-established the party government as the election-time government. In other words, the 15th amendment will allow the next elections to be held with the incumbent prime minister Sheikh Hasina who has said repeatedly that she wants the Awami League in power till the 2040 decade to ensure Bangladesh’s passage into a developed country.

The 15th amendment unbelievably did not dissolve the existing parliament during the election time, which is unheard of in a parliamentary democracy. This would allow the Awami League ad its allies the luxury of nominating, should they want, a sitting member of parliament in each of the 300 parliamentary seats in the next general election. These candidates, in addition to their power and privileges as members of parliament, would be backed by a pliant election commission and leaders of the civil bureaucracy and the law enforcement agencies that have been politicised to the extent where it is difficult to distinguish them from AL activists.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party can, therefore, participate in an election under the 15th amendment only in a state of insanity. Even if gods of mythology were to lead the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the next general election under the 15th amendment, the Awami League would have no fear of losing because the 15th amendment has been created as defeat-proof without even having the proverbial Achilles’ heel.

Uzra Zeya was also fully aware that the Awami League’s BAKSAL or one-party vision is embedded in the 15th amendment. The AL regime has not attempted to hide it either. The fact that the United States and its allies did not oppose the 2014 and the 2018 elections that were held under the same 15th amendment was because they did not want the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat to come to power as they believed that they were soft on Islamic terrorism. They did not want to allow such an alliance to assume office under any circumstances at a time when they were fighting Islam on all fronts in the war on terror.

The situation has turned its head since August 2021 with the fall of Afghanistan and the end of the war on terror. Islam is no longer the enemy of the United States and its allies. The United States is now pursuing, instead, democracy, human rights and free and fair elections as the bedrocks of the Biden administration’s foreign and domestic policies to the bad luck of the AL regime. The Democrats and president Joe Biden will fight the next US presidential election on these issues that have further compounded the AL regime’s predicament.

The AL regime’s ostrich mindset with the existing political realities as the country gets closer to its next general election is certain to push it deeper into its self-inflicted crisis. It was, therefore, not smart on its part to spin the visit of Uzra Zeya as favourable for the AL regime because it ridiculed and made light of Washington’s intelligence.

The AL regime, encouraged by its ostrich mindset, nevertheless, feels that it can do whatever it wants and others would not see its intentions. It is very difficult, otherwise, to explain its handling of the Hero Alam election with the country’s politics under the US-west radar. The handling made the case for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that has been trying so hard to establish even at the risk of lives of its activists that a fair election under the present election commission is impossible to justify its case for the next general election to be held under the neutral, non-party administration.

Hero Alam was assaulted inside the voting premise with closed-circuit television cameras recording every second. The wrongdoers were not election officials which raises the question of their access to the premise. The police escorted the candidate out of the election premise but handed him over to the AL activists, instead of protecting him. The AL regime’s activists assaulted him with the closed-circuit television cameras recording the assault that sent him to the hospital.

The US delegation welcomed the BNP’s huge July 12 public rally as a sign of the regime’s willingness to give the opposition democratic space. The attacks on the BNP’s peaceful marches in Dhaka and the rest of the country on July 18 in which a BNP activist was killed by the police underlined that Uzra Zeya’s hopes that the Awami League would give the opposition democratic space to the opposition were misplaced. The attacks underlined, instead, that the Awami League is determined to suppress the opposition to remain in power by force as it had done over the past 15 years.

The United States and the western embassies watched these undemocratic acts of the AL regime in action. The Indian, Chinese and Russian missions have also witnessed the same. Hero Alam’s predicament is, nevertheless, nothing new. The opposition candidates have faced similar predicaments as a routine in almost all past elections under the 15th amendment that were, fortunately for the AL regime, not witnessed live. The chief election commissioner, therefore, did a favour. He inadvertently allowed the nation and the foreign embassies to see an election under the 15th amendment in real time.

Victoria Nuland, the under-secretary for political affairs at the US sate department, will visit Dhaka on July 23. That is unusual because her colleague Uzra Zeya was in the city less than two weeks ago. Their responsibilities, however, explain any surprise. Uzra Zeya visited Dhaka to underline that the AL regime is failing in civilian security, democracy and human rights, the bedrock of US foreign policy and her responsibilities in the state department. Victoria Nuland will visit Dhaka to ensure how these issues fit into US-Bangladesh bilateral relations as the under-secretary for political affairs.

There is, therefore, no reason to believe that the AL regime has ‘managed’ Washington in its favour. Indeed, there is every reason to believe to the contrary. Ironically, the Awami League is helping Washington to assess the regime by exposing its ostrich mindset through its actions that are contrary to democracy and human rights.