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President Iajuddin Ahmed met separately with Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia and Awami League (AL)-led 14-party alliance leader Sheikh Hasina failed to resolve differences which saw a resumption of blockade of Dacca. This fresh nationwide indefinite transport blockade paralyzed Bangladesh opposed wide-scale voter list manipulation by BNP and Ahmed and has grass-root support. The opposition accuses Zia combine to have manipulated the rolls by 14 million voters with active collusion from Ahmed. While the caretaker Government and BNP swear blind on the authenticity of the lists, Washington-based National Democratic Institute revealed a survey that found nearly 12.2 million or 13% of the names on recently updated voter lists have been found excess or duplicates.
With failing consensus and blockade cutting off major cities, the discredited Election Commission (EC) has now announced the election date to be January 21, 2007 despite a writ petition in the High Court by the AL-led-coalition seeking injunction on the EC role, announcement of the poll schedule, and a fresh electoral roll.
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Zia rejects the AL demand and instead wants an immediate withdrawal of the blockade and does not accept changes to the Election Commission as they are stuffed with individuals who are amenable to her agenda. Hasina says that this is not possible without a new poll schedule with a correct voter list run by a new election commission. Ahmed is trying to drive consensus in such a charged atmosphere but is unsuccessful not only because of Zia’s intransigence but also because of his own lack of credibility appointed as he was by Zia in most controversial circumstances and in violation of Constitutional norms. Ahmed’s house was under siege by the opposition demanding that he prove his neutrality but Ahmed has done nothing to address this core concern.
Meanwhile the Chakma tribe observed the 9th anniversary of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord but accused the Government of not implementing the treaty. They even threatened to start a guerilla war if the Government continued with its policy of repression and refusal to implement the treaty provisions. Hasina had ended a 20 year guerilla war on December 2, 1997 with this treaty but since then nothing has been done by her or her successor Zia. Specifically, the tribesmen are upset about the lack of land reforms through a commission, rehabilitation of Jummo refugees, shutting down of temporary camps of security forces, and creation of a Chittagong Hill Tract (CHT) indigenous police force. With no steps taken to implement these important facets of the treaty, Jyotirindra Bodhipriya Larma (aka Shantu Larma) says that “An armed movement is inevitable if the Bangladesh government does not show interest in implementing the accord.” However, analysts say that the treaty virtually divides the population into two camps and Larma himself is dictatorial and accuse him of abrogating power to himself. The United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), which opposes the treaty, accuses Larma of betraying the people saying that the treaty was “not a peace accord” and what the people really need is “full regional autonomy.”
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