Yesterday, seven honourable
members of parliament demanded my trial for "treason" for publishing
reports that they claimed to have led to Sheikh Hasina's internment. We
fundamentally reject this link as it is not based on facts.
Below, we reproduce in full
my signed commentary published on the day after her arrest and urge the
honourable MPs making the accusations on the sacred floor of the
parliament and our readers to judge whether the author of such a
commentary could have wished for her arrest, let alone 'created grounds'
for it?
I also want to point out that
The Daily Star published 203 editorials, which is one editorial every
third day during the whole period of emergency caretaker government,
demanding repeatedly the earliest restoration of democracy through "free
and fair election." This, we think, remains an unmatched commitment to
democracy for any newspaper during the period dominated by an
army-backed regime.
I urge the readers to examine
and judge for themselves the validity of the vilification and character
assassination campaign that has been going on since I made an
introspective comment about a lapse in my editorial judgement in
publishing a few reports following the 1/11 takeover that we could not
independently verify.
--Editor
The only reason that the caretaker government has survived six months
in power, and the chief advisor acknowledges it every time an occasion
arises, is because the general public think of it to be an instrument to
strengthen democracy. But now if this very instrument of 'strengthening
democracy' becomes a symbol of mindless and arbitrary use of power,
then how will the public distinguish it from such previous abusers of
power and continue to lend it support?
As a newspaper which supported the reform process of this government,
we raise the above question in all seriousness. For we think by
arresting Sheikh Hasina on charges that can easily be tried without her
internment, the government has put at risk all its achievements of the
last six months. To us Sheikh Hasina's arrest is totally misconceived
and smacks of arrogant use of power without due process of law. To say
that nobody is above the law must also mean that law is not the
handmaiden of anybody either.
Examine the arbitrariness with which Sheikh Hasina has been treated.
She was allowed to go abroad and just because she spoke out against some
actions of this government, (having earlier promised to ratify
everything) suddenly several cases were filed against her. Then, when
every government would want an accused to return to the country to face
the charges, the government decided that she would not be allowed to
come. Why and under what law and whose authority, we still don't know.
In a most childish move all foreign airlines were asked not to take her
on board, ignoring specific international laws that govern international
travel. Then, just as suddenly she was allowed to return to a
tumultuous welcome at the airport, which then resulted in cases against
5,000 unidentified attendees. (How these cases will be pursued only God
knows).
Things were quiet for a while as the AL chief kept mum. She was
allowed some movement but stopped whenever she would make a comment. In
the latest instances of arbitrariness, Sheikh Hasina was allowed to
visit the ailing Sabina Yasmin but Khaleda Zia was not.
In Khaleda Zia's case a comedy was enacted with her going abroad. The
plan was to send her into exile and the bargaining was whether or not
she will be allowed to take her two sons with her. We saw the drama of
Koko -- being charged with extortion (same as Sheikh Hasina), arrested
and then released within a day with the case still pending. The drama
continued for days which later turned out to be a farce as the BNP chief
did not even have a visa for any country willing to host her. She had
to negotiate to visit her husband's grave and seek clearance every time
she went anywhere. Again the question is why, and under what law her
movements are curtailed.
We trust the chief of staff when he says that the Army is not
involved in politics or forming any new party. But what do we do when we
receive reports from our correspondents that district administrators
are making lists of so-called clean politicians and that many of them
are being visited by the powers that be goading them to join the new
so-called king's party? What do we do when senior leaders of both the
BNP and the AL tell us of powerful visitors asking them to move against
their party leaders or face corruption charges?
We would like to strongly suggest that this is no way to strengthen
democracy. Just as 'command economy' failed so will 'command politics'.
The core of democracy is people's right to choose their leaders and
those who will represent them in the government. We accept that we made
some bad choices in the past. We accept that our leaders, including
Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, betrayed our trust in many cases and over
many years. We also agree that we got tired and fed up with
confrontational and destructive politics and that we all yearned for a
change. But we never agreed to bargain our democracy for 'knights in
shining armour' to save us from dire straits.
We repeat that we welcomed the emergency for the simple reason that
the election that was looming before us was going to further destroy our
democracy, which had been battered by years of partisan politics from
both sides. We supported the caretaker government, and we still do,
simply because we want to go back to democracy, albeit greatly
strengthened and made free of corruption. But arresting leaders at whim
and 'punishing' them for making critical comments is no way of doing
that.
In reference to the economy our Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus
had told an earlier government: "We do not need your help, just remove
the obstacles and let people do the rest." We say the same thing today
about politics to the caretaker government and to the armed forces that
are helping them. We don't need your help in doing politics. Just remove
the obstacles and let people do the rest. Here obstacles means
corruption, lack of appropriate laws, necessary oversight mechanism,
independent judiciary, Election Commission, Anti-Corruption Commission,
Public Service Commission, depoliticised bureaucracy and law enforcement
agencies.
Much of the above the government is doing, and creditably so. But the
tragedy is that it is doing something more. It is attempting to
manipulate our politics by trying to predetermine who will be and who
will not be a part of its future. This is neither desirable nor doable
and even if forced, not sustainable. Every leader possessing slightest
bit of integrity will shy away from being a part of this process. Those
who will be forced to participate in this process will lack credibility
to command any respect and thus be unable to provide stability. And
those who will volunteer to be part of this process, and there will be
many as there has been in the past, will not be worth the paper their
names will be written on.
If anybody expects to bring about a dynamic Bangladesh through such
group of opportunists can only be termed as being totally devoid of any
knowledge of history, especially of this part of the world, and
specifically of Bangladesh.
The chief election commissioner's roadmap of Sunday had cleared the
air considerably about the coming elections. But yesterday's arrest of
Sheikh Hasina brought in some dark clouds over the election horizon.
Suspicion has been sown that though the process and mechanics of the
coming election may be free and fair, through "command politics" those
participating in it may be pre-selected and thereby predetermining the
outcome. Simply put "command politics" will yield "command victors" and
thus instead of elected government we'll have a puppet government.
We hope that the above nightmarish scenario will not happen. It is
imperative that immediate and credible steps be taken to remove all
suspicion about it. For a start we think Sheikh Hasina should be set
free. Let all credible cases be brought against her and let her face the
law and the courts and let the people judge her for what she is.
Further, we need lifting of ban on indoor politics. This will allow the
reformists and the old guards to fight in the open and give the public a
chance to understand the issues and make their judgment. It is our firm
belief that there is a groundswell of support for reforms in every
aspect of our politics. The leaders who will oppose reforms will be
rejected by the voters, if not by the party activists and supporters.
But the reform process has to be open and free, and not manipulated.
We conclude by urging the army-backed caretaker government not to
jeopardise the whole reform process and the considerable success that
this government has achieved in fighting corruption and bringing some
institutional reforms by wittingly or unwittingly becoming
over-ambitious and taking more on their plate than they can digest. The
fundamental mistake committed by past proponents of "command politics"
was to underestimate the wisdom of our masses. We cannot afford a repeat
of that mistake.
