Comments on: Unfolding events in Bangladesh

By: homponnl

homponnl — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 05:49:34 +0000

homponnl…

homponnl…

By: sonia

sonia — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:53:49 +0000

Have just got back from Dhaka. Don’t know about the ‘army on the streets thing’ – there are more police on the streets of London. life is carrying on as normal which is certainly wasn’t doing when all the hartals were happening. ordinary people certainly are pleased with no more hartals as they can actually go about their daily business which is hardly surprising! the elections have been postponed which most people think is a good thing. noone imagined the elections were going to be ‘free and fair’. i don’t imagine anyone actually thinks having a ‘state of emergency’ is tantamount to ‘military rule’. analogous to having police on the streets and a police state. Now if no elections ever materialize that may change. Things are far too complicated for any facile explanation. Certainly this all demonstrates how fucked up things are when a ‘state of emergency’ means that most ordinary people ( POLITICAL PARTIES EXCLUDED) go oh good now i can go out, instead of having to hide at home. Politics is fucked up – that’s for sure – and yes it’s important to do something about the fact that a lot of people think the election wasn’t shaping up to be free or fair – but the kind of hartals we have are hardly very fair either. While i was in Kolkata there were all these ‘bandhs’ ( same thing as a hartal effectively) happening as well – and i watched a debate on tv about who thought what about the pros and cons of these types of strikes. one lady had a superb point which was – the bottom line – who is affected by these kinds of violent strikes? ordinary people. yes we have democratic responsibilities and we have to think hard about how to try and get there minus the violence. otherwise it’ll be back to the ironic state of affairs where people go about their normal business in a state of emergency and can’t do so when there isn’t a state of emergency officially.

as for the power of the ‘islamists’ : it suprises me that people are talking about it now – what about in 2001 when they were actually elected by virtue of allying themselves with the BNP?

view from the street..

By: Martin Bright

Martin Bright — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 13:49:54 +0000

Check out the brilliant piece by novelist Tahmima Anam in this week’s New Statesman. Beautifully-crafted words on desh-prem. Sorry about the blatant advertising but it really is rather good.

By: Sid Love

Sid Love — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 23:57:21 +0000

And yet the most tragic thing about Bangladesh is that it had a non-partisan and independent judiciary. It also has a boisterous free and objective tv and press. Sound bureacratic institutions and millions of young bright talented people.

But it’s chosen to give all of it away on a plate to anyone who doesn’t give a shit about BNP/Awami League affiliations. And the only people who don’t are, unfortunately, Islamists. Islmamists who are willing to play the democratic way but Islamists non-the-less.

By: Bert Preast

Bert Preast — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:43:53 +0000

Well, it’s an education all right.

By: raz

raz — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:36:29 +0000

Kissinger must be having a good chuckle at this. I wonder if this instability in Bangladesh may have regional repercussions: Heavy fighting breaks out between Indian and Bangladeshi soldiers

By: Kismet Hardy

Kismet Hardy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 22:03:11 +0000

Oh. I stand accused. I’m bald now. Am I safe?

By: Bert Preast

Bert Preast — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:45:35 +0000

Mullets made English football a laughing stock.

The silver lining is they STILL make German football a laughing stock. So it’s all good.

You can get back to teching me Bangladeshi politics if you like.

By: Jagdeep

Jagdeep — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:43:05 +0000

Bangladesh FOUGHT Pakistan to get liberated you freak

Naaah man you misunderstand, I’m saying that mullets fought for Pakistan in the war of liberation and that’s why Ershad’s men beat you up. Mullets are dangerous.

By: Jagdeep

Jagdeep — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:41:50 +0000

Eh? I thought you owed me a beer.

By: Kismet Hardy

Kismet Hardy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:28:08 +0000

Although it has to be said, we won… thanks to India

You still owe me a beer though

By: Kismet Hardy

Kismet Hardy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:26:33 +0000

“They sided with Pakistan in the war of liberation.”

Did you just mock the ignorant you monkey?

Bangladesh FOUGHT Pakistan to get liberated you freak

By: Jagdeep

Jagdeep — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:20:13 +0000

(nice one for arresting me and nearly getting me beaten shitless for having a mullet but letting me go because I had bribe money on me)

Yeah, but mullets have been a threat to Bangladesh for a long time, it’s not funny you know. They sided with Pakistan in the war of liberation.

By: Jagdeep

Jagdeep — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:18:12 +0000

I want to say something intelligent and erudite about this, but don’t know enough. Except Sunny, that ‘could Bangladesh be the next Afghanistan’ is so exaggerated its the kind of hyperbole you’d expect from some ignorant American FOX news headline, rather than from an Asian with some knowledge of the dynamics and differences between Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

By: Kismet Hardy

Kismet Hardy — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:16:13 +0000

I’ve lived in bangladesh during the rule of ershad (nice one for arresting me and nearly getting me beaten shitless for having a mullet but letting me go because I had bribe money on me). I’ve seen what the Rapid Arms Batallion do to people that pose a threat to the way of the governed way of life. I’ve seen the floods wipe out people I know.

Compared to marshall law, floods are a swim in the park…

By: Tanvir

Tanvir — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:54:53 +0000

What prompted this new direction is the fact that the initially planned elections may lack credibility.

It has more to do with the major political alliances wanting to win no matter what.

The pivotal factor for these elections is General Ershad and his Jatiya Party. He holds the next biggest vote bank after the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist party. Ershad initially planned to join forces with the BNP and the Awami League was out for all out disruption, with the view that more disruption and successful disruption would be a sign of strength.

When Ershad turned his back on BNP and joined the Awami League the Awami League had the trump card, they were all for going to elections – it is only when the BNP instigated a court case against Ershad to come to court, and a subsequent chain of events that led to Ershad being disqualified from contesting the elections – the Awami League changed their mind and decided to boycott the elections and the nation was headed for a stalemate.

It looks as though everyone is happy with the current turn of events – apart from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party that is. The Islamic extremist thing is usual is well over-played by scaremongerers.

By: Rezwan

Rezwan — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:48:09 +0000

read –>5% of Vote last election (2001).

By: Rezwan

Rezwan — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:47:18 +0000

Vikrant: Exactly. The table has turned. The Jamaat, the only successful Islamic party who gained 5% of Vote last year (This year they could get upto 10% vote) has declared that they will consider the changed situation before joining the polls and they may not participate. Hallelujah!

By: Rezwan

Rezwan — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:43:56 +0000

Whatever happened Bangladeshis are welcoming it. Apparently the army is behind this but presumably they will not risk the bad reputation of a dictatorship and loose the foreign currency revenue of about 10000 soldiers in the UN peace missions (14% of total peace keepers in UN). Moreover the Army apparently has no power hungry dictator and so far played a very good role. I have read somewhere that many including the opposition had requested the army to intervene. Like the recent blood-less coup-dâ€™etat in Thailand the Bangladeshis are not against the army in this situation. This may be their only chance of restoring the functional democracy following the election. My detailed analysis here.

By: Vikrant

Vikrant — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 18:40:07 +0000

seriously threats of Bangaldesh truning into another Afghanistan are overblown IMHO…