International   

Concern over political deadlock in Bangladesh

Haroon Habib

DHAKA: As the next general elections in Bangladesh draw near, key world powers have expressed the optimism that the prevailing political deadlock in the country would not endanger democracy in the South Asian nation.

Oscar DeSoto, a senior U.S. State Department official, said during a recent press conference conducted over the Internet, "I trust that the people of Bangladesh will work hard to protect its long tradition of democracy."

Election disputes

His comment was in response to a question whether the U.S. would play any role in protecting democracy in Bangladesh from any extra-constitutional move by the military in the wake of the failure of the main political parties to resolve their election disputes.

"While no one can forecast what may or may not happen in Bangladesh, I can say in general that whenever democracy comes under threat, the U.S. can opt to use any number of tools, including diplomatic measures at multilateral organisations such as the U.N. or in bilateral relations, to express its concern about that threat."

While the Opposition parties have alleged that the Khaleda Zia Government is planning to hand over power to a "third force", apparently to "save its skin", the ruling BNP's secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan has accused the Opposition of hatching a "deep conspiracy" to subvert democracy in the country.

The U.S., and the United Kingdom, have expressed almost similar views on the existing political deadlock in Bangladesh. They stressed that the two major political parties need to engage in face-to-face negotiations to break the stalemate and the cycle of street violence.

The comment from the two world powers came against the backdrop of a sudden flare-up on the political front over the electoral reform proposal made by the Awami League-led 14-party Opposition combine.

Increasing tension

Tension is increasing with the Opposition combine stating that they would not allow any election to be conducted by the "partisan" Chief Election Commissioner Justice M. A. Aziz and the two controversial Election Commissioners. They got a morale boost after the Supreme Court rejected the commission's appeal on the "fraudulent" voters' list, which it had prepared defying a ruling by the High Court. Contempt charges have also been framed against the CEC and the two Commissioners, and the demand for their resignation has become a major issue for the Opposition.

The British High Commissioner in Dhaka, Anwar Choudhury, said holding the next elections in a free and fair manner would be a great challenge for Bangladesh.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sri Lankan, LTTE teams leave for Oslo
Concern over political deadlock in Bangladesh
Russia to build naval base in Syria
12 students killed in sectarian attack
China must push ahead with reform, says paper
Canada terror plot inspired by Al-Qaeda
Morales firm on land distribution
40 killed in plane crash
Pakistan blames India
Toddler from PoK enters India
Encouraging response to defence diplomacy: Pranab

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu