Politics makes strange bed-fellows

Otherwise, why should a person like Hussain Mohammad Ershad -- a fallen dictator who was thrown out of power in 1990 through a prolonged and bloody mass movement led by the country's then mainstream opposition political parties, including BNP and Awami League, and put behind bars on charges of corruption, tax evasion, and misuse of power -- now be an important person in the political scene?

President Ziaur Rahman was killed in a military coup in Chittagong allegedly led by Gen Manzoor when Gen Ershad was the chief of staff of Bangladesh army. Soon after the coup, Gen Manzoor was caught and killed inside Chittagong cantonment.

It is believed in many circles that Ershad was behind both the killings. Although there is a case against him in the court on charges of conspiracy to kill Gen Manzoor, nobody has ever tried to officially involve or asked for trial of Ershad in the killing of Ziaur Rahman.

The crux of the issue is that Ershad was the beneficiary of the killings. Soon he became the president of the country, seizing power through the back-door, replacing an elected BNP government of Justice Sattar by force.

It is only sixteen years back that people of this country struggled and sacrificed their lives -- Basunia, Noor Hossain Delwar, Selim, Dr. Milon, to name a few -- to get rid of the autocrat Ershad and establish democracy. BNP and Awami League with a number of other political parties in their fold took the lead in that mass movement against Ershad and in the process Begum Khaleda Zia earned a reputation as an uncompromising leader among her supporters.

It is most unfortunate that Begum Khaleda Zia, for the sake of power, has now become so compromising that, as if it was not enough to have Jamaat and other fundamentalist and anti-liberation forces on her side, she has invited Ershad to her office and asked him to join her alliance to ensure victory in the next general election.

Ershad in return is learnt to have asked her to withdraw all graft and other cases against him and make him the president of the republic, and Begum Zia has agreed to consider most if not all of his demands. The Awami League is also, on the other hand, as we can understand from the television interview of some of its spokesmen, considering Ershad an important factor in the next election and is worried about his joining the four-party alliance.

We hear that politics makes strange bed-fellows, but that the bed-fellow could be a most unpredictable and dubious character like Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who is capable of saying one thing in the morning and just the opposite in the evening, not to mention about his never ending lust for power, wealth, and women, nobody probably ever conceived of.

Politicians are held in contempt, wrote Brendan Francis, an American writer. This may not be all true in the case of Bangladesh. Here politicians, even those who are accused of siphoning millions of dollar to foreign banks, bleeding the nation white, are not for long held in contempt. Ershad is a glaring example right in front of us, though he may not be alone in this race.

Be that as it may, let us turn our eyes to our civil society, specially to the Nagorik Committee, who are holding seminar after seminar in the divisional and district head-quarters, and relentlessly looking for honest and capable candidates for the next general election.

I wonder what will be their rating (in the context of fielding honest and capable candidates) for Ershad who has already served a jail term of more than three years, having being convicted by the Supreme Court in a graft case, with another fifteen or sixteen cases still hanging over him. They might do a great service to the nation if they can come out with a frank and honest opinion in this respect.

We might as well turn our eyes to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC ) and try to find out what they are thinking of Ershad. The other day we saw the ACC head Justice Sultan Ahmed telling the television crew that they are going to look into the present and past record of the intending candidates in terms of their financial integrity and refer the cases to the Election Commission so that corrupt candidates can be barred from contesting the national election.

To start with a simple and straightforward case, why not they take up the case of Ershad and break the inertia they have been until now unable to overcome? Our newly appointed Tax Ombudsman Mr. Khairuzzaman might also find an interesting case to start with in finding how far the print media is correct in reporting that Ershad does not pay any income-tax.

Revival or return of a fallen dictator is not common in the recent history of world politics. It didn't happen with Marcos in the Philippines, Shah Reza Pahlavy in Iran, Pinochet in Chili, Ayub Khan or Yahya Khan in Pakistan. But it has happened with Ershad in Bangladesh.

That is probably why Bangladesh is often referred to as a country where everything is possible, where anti-liberation forces who took side with the Pakistani army in committing genocide against the people of this country have been able to stage a comeback, and share state power, only after thirty years of independence, and a fallen autocrat is contemplating a similar feat in only half that time.

The tug of war between BNP and Awami League to drag General Ershad on their side shows how desperate the two parties are to win the next election at any cost.

Although the BNP high command maintains that they want to stay in power to ensure continuity of their development work, but the critics and in fact most people think otherwise. They think BNP is desperate to stay in power to protect themselves and the huge properties they have amassed during the last five years of their rule (or, more appropriately, misrule).

The reason for Awami League to be desperate to win the next election is also understood. They need to go to power for their political existence, if not for anything else. What is not understood is how the return of a deposed dictator to our national politics, be it in alliance with BNP or Awami League, will help us overcome the present impasse of ensuring a free, fair and credible election and establish a secular, progressive and democratic government in power, given the track record of Ershad, not only as a despot but also as a mastermind of election rigging and media coup.

One more thing that Awami League needs to understand that Ershad's JP is a natural ally of BNP, a fact which Ershad himself admits without any reservation. The best thing for Awami League and in turn for those who wish to see the democratic and secular forces in power would be to leave Hussain Mohammed Ershad free to join his natural ally and try his luck.

The author is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.