A traumatic blow to democracy

It is not clearly understood as to why AL cannot accept the fact that the situation of 1971 no longer exists. In 1971 AL emerged as the most powerful party because of a ten-year dictatorial rule of Ayub Khan (1958-68) and the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

On winning the 1996 election AL miscalculated that by trying hard to revive the memories of 1971 the people of Bangladesh would redirect their attention toward AL and consider them as the sole liberators of Bangladesh. Thus they lost the election of 2001.

The present BNP, though ideologically the same as the BNP of Ziaur Rahman, is relatively more democratic than Zia's BNP. Through tireless effort with a strong determination Khaleda Zia seems to have has made the BNP the biggest party in Bangladesh. However, it has yet to do a lot to make it capable of facing crises by bringing more balance of power between the junior and senior members and between the hardliners and the moderates.

Despite election commitment to improve the law and order situation of the country the alliance government has not been able to achieve it. Killing some terrorists cannot bring real benefit to the people. It is indeed unfortunate that the government has not yet been able to find out the real culprits of grenade attacks which so far targeted only the AL leaders and supporters. This gives an impression that either the BNP or members of other parties of the alliance do not like to punish the terrorists. The government cannot absolve itself of its responsibility by stating that police or civil administration is inefficient or the opposition themselves are perpetrating these incidents. The failure of the government to stop these attacks will be detrimental to the long term interest of the BNP. As the leader of alliance it will have to take the full blame. The other members of the alliance will not share this. The repressive measures taken by the government in the name of controlling the destructive activities of the opposition activists will be counterproductive for the ruling parties.

In regard to Kibria it may be stated that he was a moderate politician with intellectual bent of mind. His criticism of the BNP may be sharp and cutting, but this is expected of a highly intelligent politician with glowing diplomatic past. No doubt he was one of the very few leading politicians who had the capability to lead the democratic movement correctly and courageously. Democracy may mean government by the uneducated yet it cannot be run properly without really educated leadership in one form or the other. No doubt Bangladesh is suffering badly because of serious shortage of properly enlightened leaders.

Bangladesh may have a literacy rate of around 45 percent, but she does not have too many Kibrias. Man like Kibria is much sought after even in the most advanced country. He was not only a brilliant student, he was also a top grade diplomat and policy planner. He is certainly not replaceable in near future. Whosoever have done this heinous crime do not appear to be aware of the value of a politician of Kibria's stature at this nascent stage of democracy in Bangladesh. By finding out the criminals of this gruesome act the government will not only help building their image nationally and internationally, but they will render immense service to the limping democracy of Bangladesh. Let us remind the BNP leadership about their movement to oust the dictatorial regime of Ershad to establish democracy. Let them be aware of the danger from emerging anti-democratic forces in the country. These must be crushed by them in their own interest.

ABMS Zahur is a retired joint-secretary.