Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed called out the Army “to assist law-enforcing agencies” to quell Opposition protests and blockade while outgoing Prime Minister Khaleda Zia instigated her cadre to “retaliate” if attacked.
The 14-party Opposition called for a blockade after their second deadline to Ahmed to prove his Constitutional neutrality expired without much progress. Fearing a political conspiracy often adopted by Zia, Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina announced the blockade on behalf of all opposition parties accusing Ahmed of implementing the agenda of “BNP-Jamat Alliance.” Accusing Ahmed and Zia of pushing Bangladesh into anarchy through confrontation, in a massive show of support, the Opposition managed to cripple the nation with road, rail, highway, and waterway blockade. Capital city Dhaka and every major town was cut off from the rest of the nation through unprecedented and popular transport blockade demanding electoral reforms and Constitutional neutrality of Ahmed’s caretaker Government. Apart from scattered and rare incidents of violence, the blockade was largely peaceful.
Ahmed termed the blockade “unlawful: and promised “all legal measures” to enforce peace. He banned processions, rallies and other demonstrations with sticks and oars. Hasina demanded that he should “not use the armed forces” who are “entrusted with great responsibility to protect the country, to protect a corrupt family and thus put the people as their opponents.” Visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher added to the confusion saying that his government supported the caretaker chief and his team. It is not clear if Boucher meant the deployment of the Army or the electoral process but in either case his statement was ill-advised and ill-timed. Instead of asking Bangladesh to follow the Constitutional process, he seems to be espousing support for corruption and potential hijack of the democratic process in the poorest nation on earth.
However, faced with the massive outpouring of support, Ahmed called off the Army deployment early this morning. However, Zia and her fundamentalist ally Jamaat-e-Islami asked their cadre to “resist” the “anarchic” blockade and “retaliate” if attacked by opposition cadre. Later, seeing the overwhelming nature of the blockade, they too withdrew their confrontationist directive.
Hasina wants the blockade to end in “an all-out success to save the country and its democracy” and argued that Ahmed’s controversial appointment as caretaker, non-neutral policies, and partial rulings does not create a congenial atmosphere for free and fair elections that could produce credible results.
