Drishtipat Blog

Points have been made albeit too violently for comfort. Now let’s calm down. The government has a lot to think about for future now that they have a bit of reality check. The temptation to say it was conspiracy will be great. Perhaps there was, perhaps there was not. But the truth of the matter is there is genuine discontent brewing. Not all of that is because of actions of CTG. Years of lack of service, infrastructure is pushing its people’s collective back to the wall. But the stagnancy and uncertainty in economy, the unbearable price of essentials and the lack of free speech and emerging surveylence by the state has the potential to create a room for massive unstability in the future from where there will be no easy exit. Politicians have gotten the message, the army should get a message from the last few days as well. CTG would do well to make changes in the government and do everything it can to gain back the moral trust that it has been losing steadily over the last few months. My advice to policy makers. While your intentions may be good, your actions will have to create the perception of your honest intentions as well which unfortunately has not happened in the past. Its also important to be realistic and pragmatic. There are lots of forces at play here, many different interest and stake holders who have there own interest at heart. Add it with the regular challenges of governence. How many fronts can you manage? Reevaluate past 7 months, cut your losses, be realistic about your ability to make changes and focus on your primary goals which is the election conducted by strong and independent institutes. Trust the people’s judgement and let them decide what’s best for them. They don’t want to go back to the business as usual days of pre Jan 11, neither do they want to be dictated about who to choose as their leaders in future. Lastly censorship is not the solution. It may temporarily make you feel better the situation has been “managed”. But it will hide the real thoughts of the people which may only burst out in the form of violence finding no alternate room for expression.

Here are two comments from two readers. First one highlights the frustration of a genuine entrepreneur and the second one is more of a summary on what the future holds.

Entrepreneur Says:

We are an software company that has been working diligently on creating an outsourcing market to Bangladesh. We had client deliverables yesterday and today. Our employees could not come to work, our isps were shut down so the client could not see the completed work. I did not know what to say to them. “Force Majeur?” is the death knell for outsourcers…a client will just go somewhere else. We lost two mega deals today… that directly affected many young professionals in dhaka and a lot of incoming revenue for the country. This happened to one firm. I wonder how many more are affected. But the saddest part about this to me is not the revenue being lost, or the job not being done, but that I feel like I have lost faith in my country. I do not trust it anymore and worst of all I am growing tired of caring, tired of trying, tired of crying for it. Someone return my Golden Bengal to me.

Eyshob_Dinratri Says:
August 23rd,

Farhad Mazhar, front page lead op-ed in NAYA DIGANTA

“Not destruction & anarchy, make legitimate demands your objective”

[excerpts]

“…In stage 1, we saw students in a spontaneous, non-partisan and legitimate protest, movement and struggle. Because of the suppression and oppression from the state, the movement has already gone through a qualitative change. Especially after protest and anger spread to other educational institutions, and Dhaka’s hawkers and a portion of working class population joined the students. From a political point of view, this joining is very significant. We support the democratic flow of joining with common people.

But in stage 2, we see that because this spontaneous movement had no central leadership, Dhaka University Teachers Association has tried to place themselves as the leaders of the movement. Those who have waged the politics of division and partisanship in Bangladesh so far. That politics is not only undemocratic, it is one of the main reasons for Bangladesh’s current state…

In stage 3, we have seen a certain power or group create massive and indiscriminate destruction and anarchy trying to push events in a certain direction. We know that this group has been busy trying to prove that Bangladesh is an anarchic “failed state”. They want to prove that Bangladesh is unable to govern itself, and bring it under the rule of United Nations peacekeeping force. Through random destruction and anarchy, they are gathering international evidence for their case. At the same time, they are using their own mass media to publish photos of army officers being kicked in the back, and burning army vehicles—all to prove that the tension between the people and the army has reached a breaking point. To prove that things are a point that only an external force that rule this country…

Stage 4 is the reaction stage. Meaning what steps will the government in power take to handle this dangerous situation, and what will be the reaction to those steps. In this situation, the urge to declare martial law will be very strong. But if we consider the overall situation, that would be like pouring ghee on the flames. The army has to extremely alert and careful.

We should not get into a frenzy because of any provocation. We have to correctly recognize, praise and encourage the students’ democratic impulse, in order to direct current political situation in a positive direction…The people have given support to the spontaneous movement because the government as failed to provide for basis needs. But it is still not clear if the spontaneous movement will be directed in a positive and constructive manner…”

http://www.dailynayadiganta.com

Eyshob_Dinratri’s Follow-up comments:
Naya Diganta I consider softly pro-Islamist. So far sympathetic to some elements of CTG, while criticizing others. In a nutshell, they seem to support elements of the Army/CTG they see as Nationalist, anti-MNC and anti-Indian, and critique the forces they see as pro-World Bank, pro-IMF, pro-US. Although all these positions may change day to day. For example when Jalil’s testimony was leaked, they were printing every breathless revelation. Then 2 days later they used Mazhar’s column to bash those same leaks and distance themselves. So even within ND are competing factions.

Mazhar is their star columnist. He has a weekly column, but sometimes publishes twice a week. He has been writing a lot about the army, dissecting a detailed white paper on BD Army over the last few weeks. His tone is of giving friendly, constructive advice to them to be “with the people” (this may raise parallels to 1970s leftists, of which Mazhar was a core member, whose ideas included remolding the BD Army as a “gono bahini”– Taher’s movement was part of that sentiment as well). It’s a mixed bag, hard to pin down (and anyone who tries to pin Mazhar down to “omuk camp” is simplifying). Pani besh ghola. But I find it more relevant to read this paper, because I believe Naya Diganta and Mazhar have some segment of the Army’s ear right now– it is a paper they may consider “bhalo lok, shahajjo korthei shomalochona korche”. It’s important to read them to understand some of the currents.

Daily Star/Prothom Alo was initially cautiously supportive of CTG’s technocrat segment (PA more than DS), but critical of excesses (as in last 2 days, the photos Mazhar refers to came out in DS). Columnists like Mazhar have painted DS/PA into the pro-US, pro-porashokti, pro-Fakhruddin, pro-Kamal Hossain camp. Since tensions between Fakhruddin & elements of the Army (the iron fist segment) are bound to exist, Mazhar’s columns can enflame those tensions (whether that is his intention or not).

When I read bloggers writing things like “Fakhruddin, Moeen, Mainul, Army” in the same line as if it is a homogeneous bloc, I worry about the naivette on display. There are many factions and many competing power blocs. In enthusiasm you may jumble them all together into one group as “the state”/”the army”/”the other side”, but you only help those who would muddy the water further.

We have seen what has happened to Bangladesh when all factions were painted as one united “goshti”. The events of 1976/77 caught everyone by surprise. Arre era na shobai India r dalal, pro-Peking, Army r shobai bhai bhai, etc. Era abar poroshpor ke marche keno? People failed to predict events, because they had already “chinnitho” the dalals, the factions, the camps, the pro-s. But they were wrong.

We need to get beyond simplistic slogans and breathless hour by hour reporting. The situation in Bangladesh is far too volatile, dangerous and on the edge (and I do not refer to last 3 days) to indulge in cyber-sloganeering. We need a exit strategy for the whole nation, and that will not be quick. It will pain us to admit it, but that exit strategy needs to include the political parties, the judiciary, the civil service, the cec, and yes, the Army.

My worry is that unless the Army is given a shommanjonok path to return to the barracks– a path that gives them a shommanjonok prosthan, a “job well done, boys” script, a return to UN peacekeeping role, and maintenance of chain of command (where top brass retains the respect of juniors, something the DU incident has damaged)– if they do not get that, they will simply never leave. We may all want to indulge in fantasies that “we” will drive the Army out through “people’s power”. But here are two scenarios:
1) It took how many years to unseat Ershad? And that in a scenario where people had far more fath in AL/BNP than they do now
2) In spite of the leadership of a charismatic, Nobel-prize winning leader (and one who did not compromise like Hasina/Khaleda), Burma is entering it’s 19th year of military rule.

Another thing to consider is that last 3 days have strengthened the hardliners inside the Army. This is not good for the Army or the Nation.

The specter of becoming a “failed state” in the midst of chaos is too real. We must guard against that possibility.