The Bangladeshi Prime Minister says…

On the occasion of 'Democracy Day' declared by the United Nations, Bangladesh Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina gave revealing information in the parliament, which deserves to be thoroughly discussed by people, who voice in favor of democracy. In her lecture, the Bangladeshi PM by quoting the definition of democracy said, no election in Bangladesh, since the ouster of an elected government in 1975 was "free and fair" and none of the governments, save the government elected on December 29, 2008 general election worked for protecting the interest of the people of the country. Before I comment on the statement of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, let me first make an anatomy of the United Nations itself, which has become so much important to the eyes of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, being the 'promoter of democracy'.

It may seem strange to some that a body like United Nations, which houses representatives from many questioned countries, should present itself as a promoter of democracy. After all, the UN is a member-state organization with clear nondemocratic elements. Its membership includes many authoritarian states, and its internal structure and procedures often diverge greatly from the ideals of liberal democracy. Notably, the United Nation's most powerful body, the Security Council, is unrepresentative, dominated by five permanent veto-wielding members, without a single African or Latin American country among them. Of course, nowhere in its activities, United Nations claims to be democratic organization. Rather it is an international organization with 192 members founded on a commitment to state sovereignty, whether the state is democratic or not. UN Charter does not mention the word "democracy," Article 1[3] cites "promoting and encouraging respect for human rights" as a primary purpose of the organization, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the General Assembly in 1948, declares that regular elections and "the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government."

Let me revert to the title topic. In her speech, Bangladeshi Prime Minister categorically gave all out endorsement to the general election held under the military controller interim government as "extremely neutral and fair". It means the election of 1996, where her party won, was not fair, though she and her party, repeatedly claimed that election to have been free and fair.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister also categorically said, "None of the governments save the government elected on December 29, 2008 general election worked for protecting the interest of the people of the country."

This very statement of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, does not exclude the government, which was in power during 1996-2001 to be out of this allegation of not working for the people. This is very interesting though, as during 1996-2001, Sheikh Hasina was the Prime Minister and her party was in power leading a coalition, which comprised Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiyo Party [floated by military dictator Hussain Muhammed Ershad] etc. By forming political alliance with the political party, whose leaders are accused of opposing the war of independence of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina not only proved her politics of ideological bankruptcy but also exposed her real face showing, she can do anything for the sake of grabbing power. This particular decision of aligning with Jamaat-e-Islami definitely has polluted the very image of Bangladesh Awami League. We also remember how Sheikh Hasina joined hands with radical Islamic party Khetafat Majlish in 2006 [weeks before the election] and signed a treaty stating, her party would impose "Sharia law" in Bangladesh once it wins the election. Though the treaty had to be scrapped in weeks, by signing this treaty of Islamizing Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina and her party inmates clearly left a bold evidence to the people and the world that, they are no opponents of Sharia law and Jihadist mentality.

The Bangladeshi Prime Minister has given absolute endorsement to the general election of December 2008, to be the only free and fair election in the country since 1975. It should be mentioned here that, when military Generals forced President Iajuddin Ahmed in declaring State of Emergency and appointing military chosen men as the advisors of the interim government, Sheikh Hasina told media right after the oath taking ceremony of the chief of that interim government that it was "result of Awami League's movement". In brief, Sheikh Hasina owned the military backed interim regime. But things changed, when the Frankenstein started crashing heads of Awami League leaders too. At that stage, Sheikh Hasina turned into the worst-ever enemy of the military backed regime, until she was released on bail and several secret "offshore negotiations" took place between the "representatives" of the regime and representatives of Sheikh Hasina. It is well documented in Wikileaks and many other places that, most of such secret "offshore negotiations" took place in United States. What is not documented is, Awami League accepted to give "safe exit" to the masterminds of the military coup of January 11, 2007 in exchange of a favorable election result. And naturally, extremely corrupt General Moeen and his entire team worked hard in staging an election, which would bring landslide victory for Bangladesh Awami League.

Sheikh Hasina claimed in the parliament that, her government is "for the people, by the people and of the people". Such words would be really sweet and nice to hear, if the realities we witness around were just the same.

But in contrary, what we observe around is, finance minister of this government terms the small investors in the stock market as "touts" when these people lose their last capital in the greedy grips of share scammers, mostly belonging to the ruling party. We witness how the business enterprise owned by the commerce minister gets involved into trade manipulation, thus contributing in exorbitant rise in the price of essentials. We observe with sorrow when the communication minister laughs shamelessly at the death of people due to virtually collapsed road communications. We become sad to see the home minister voicing in favor of extra-judicial murders. The nation gets shocked to watch a few police officers [who were members of student wing of the ruling party during their student life] mercilessly beats a senior opposition member of the Parliament in broad-day-light, just like a thief. The entire nation gets shocked to see, how an opposition activist and lawyer named M U Ahmed was brutally murdered in police custody in the name of interrogation. Everyone becomes mum, when the government enacts law suffocating the freedom of expression and freedom of media.

Still the Bangladeshi Prime Minister considers her actions to be for, by and of the people? This should be too a strong joke for the entire nation to absorb.

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The Bangladeshi Prime Minister says…

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