Troops were deployed throughout Bangladesh on Sunday 11th December to maintain law and order, says presidential order. Military now patrolling the main streets and squares and guarding the important buildings and installations. The troops deployment has once again raise the fear of a military take over. It seems that military is one step away from taking over the control. If violence, blocked and protest demonstration continued for few weeks, it most likely that generals will step in and impose Martial Law. The military is also preparing an operation against most active political workers of the opposition parties. It seems that situation has gone out the control of President and he feels insecure without the protection of military.
The president called the military when opposition alliance announced to besiege the presidential palace to push the interim government to full fill the promises. Now the opposition alliance has called off the march and besiege of presidential palace but president has refused to send back the troops to barracks. Former Major General Syed Muhammad Ibrahim declares this move by the president “premature and dangerous for the political future of the country”. He said “we can rule out possibility of a martial law at the moment but our history shows that if the situation remained the same then the military rule is on the cards”. Another defense and political analyst says “This is not martial law at the moment, but we can not rule it out. At present military’s immediate task is to suppress the protest demonstrations and to restore the crippling authority of the interim government headed by president”.
Imperialism Concerned
American and other Imperialist powers have shown their concerns about the situation. The American and British diplomats are running around in the capital Dhaka to calm down the situation. They have met both president and opposition leaders to solve the weeks long political crises. They are trying to force the military generals and president, not to impose martial law immediately. For them, this step will further aggravate the already volatile political situation.
British High Commissioner Anwer Choudhury said”I hope the military presence in Dhaka will be temporary and not led to point of no return. We are deeply concerned with the political situation that can put in danger not only the political stability, but also social and economic stability of the country”.
American ambassador Patricia A Butenis said “the situation is not healthy. We are encouraging the major parties to narrow their differences to end the crises. Issues related to the elections are fundamentally political and therefore require a political solution. The military intervention will make things worst and complicated. We have made it very clear to all sides that we will not support any step towards chaos and instability. The interim government is pushing the situation in that direction”.
It is becoming clear that Americans want to see opposition leader Hasina Wajid back in power. For Americans, she will be a close ally in war on terror and will take more brave and bold steps to counter the rising tide of Islamic Fundamentalism. The Americans are clearly siding with Hasina Wajid and trying to force the interim government to take all the actions before the January 23 rd general elections, as demanded by opposition parties. Americans are realizing the nightmare situation for them, if out going 4 party alliance won the elections that includes the main fundamentalist party Jamat-e Islami. The victory of this alliance will mains the further strengthening of Islamic extremism, which is not in the interest of American Imperialism at the moment. Americans are also worried that the military tooke over can increase the influence of the Islamic hardliners within the army.
Democratic Rights in Danger
The military deployment has endangered the democratic and fundamental rights of the people. The government has already imposed a ban on demonstrations and public rallies in the main streets of Dhaka. The military has a history of repression and mass scale human rights violations. During the last major deployment in 2002, more than 70 people mostly political activists died in military custody, after being arrested for interrogation. The state repression and excessive use of power has already on the rise. The previous government led by Khalida Zia established special paramilitary force to suppress the workers strikes and pickets. This force has become notorious for shooting peaceful protesting workers. More than 800 workers mostly textile and garment workers were seriously injured by the state forces during the strikes and pickets. Special forces has developed the habit to shoot bullets and use teargas and batton charge to injured the protesters to create the fear to discourage the people to agitate against the government. The previous coalition government introduced new laws to restrict the workers rights to strike and protest. If military decided to impose martial law, this will further increase the violations of basic democratic and human rights.