War criminal or fundamentalist? How and when to get the Jamatis?
Policy-makers as well as general population should make a distinction between the two issues. More important is that not to be distracted from the main job at hand.
Today while listening to Suranjit Sengupta, an hypothetical story came to mind that may unfold in Bangladesh near future. We should remind that this is the same Suranjit Sengupta who used to be the parliamentary adviser for Sheikh Hasina. During last fifteen years, all the advice that he gave to his leader is how to stay out of parliament (when in opposition) or how to make the parliament ineffective while in ruling party. So, the competence and the amount of gray material shows in his history. Whatever the gray material is there, we think, it is so corrupt that nobody should expect something out of there with a good intention. So, when we hear a big maya-kanna for justice for war criminals and fundamentalists from the CTG, that makes us to think what actually is behind these. Here is the hypothetical story:
"Govt. vows to the pressure of trying the war criminals, even though they think it is an undue or at least an ill-intentioned pressure. However, a commission is created based on the international law and based on local existing laws. The focus of the govt.machinery diverts from the existing resources to the war crimes tribunal because they will seem more difficult to prove in the courts - since those are much older cases than the current cases. Since government had to involve itself into the war tribunals before concluding the existing special tribunal, so it has to adjust the priorities. Govt. at last manage to get some of the war criminals and make them face the justice. In the meantime, both Khaleda and Hasina and their collaborators comes out of jail since they were no longer the focus of the government. The nation seems to be happy.
In the election, one of the party forms government. However, in five years time, the two main parties are courting again the other two parties (Jamat and Jatiyo Party) to form coalition."
Thus, the history starts to unravel itself upon us again!
This is the kind of history that these AL and BNP culprits want to recreate for us. Government should not listen to these demands, rather they should focus on their jobs at hand. Finishing the current job NOW is much more important.
Are we saying that the demand for trying war criminals are not justified?
No, we would not say that. But those who are demanding it right now, have a bad intention. They are trying to get out of the cages by creating a chaos. That should not be allowed to happen.
What do we suggest that should be followed to try the war criminals, eventually?
What should we do about fundamentalist politics in Bangladesh?
If you really push for an answer, here are two options.
1. Govt. should take the time until December 2008, to make sure that the planned election is held on time. In parallel, it should continue the legal proceedings and actions of task force and ACC should continue to make sure that a level playing field is created as best as possible. During this time, government should also encourage the new and existing political parties to engage in a dialogue to reach a national consensus on these two issues. This consensus should be made among the major parties that represent good majority of the population (supported by the field level surveys).
Once such a consensus is reached. Govt. can try one thing. It should encourage the political parties to form an election platform out of this consensus and push for a coalition government after a successful election. The elected government can proceed to make policies regarding the two important issues. If the government can not encourage a strong enough election platform, then, only then the second option might be considered.
2. In the case of a successful execution of all the existing cases of corruption and successful completion of task force activities, one year from now (October 2008), the CTG should convene to see the state of political dialogue on the two major issues - i.e. to discuss the issues of war crimes in 1971 and how the nation should deal with fundamentalist issues. If they do not feel that the national consensus hasn't reached yet and they have enough resources to engage, they might talk to the parties involved whether the national election can be pushed toward the end of 2009 ( i.e. instead of December 2008, elections will be held by December 2009). If such an environment existed at that time, it may proceed with the second option.
If an important job like the issue of war crimes has been left alone by Hasina, Khaleda and Ershad for last 27 years, the nation can wait another year to see that happen.
The willingness to wait for another year would also prove the politicians' seriousness about the demand. Also, if these politicians can depend on this CTG for such an important national job which they failed to do so far, they should also stop acting like opposition parties to the CTG. The political parties should at least suspend all the alleged criminals from their respective parties, which suspention might be temporary at the moment. The final verdict from the courts may make the suspensions permanent. These steps should be taken to show their seriousness. Unless, the nation would always think that all these are just show to get their Mokkhiranis out of jain. Public re eto boka vaba thik na.
The time until December 2008 is necessary to make sure that we do not loose what we have achieved so far during last one year. It has already been suggested. CTG should not complicate their work now.
Even if you do not try those war criminals, which was the case until 1/11 happened, don't worry much about those. The next generation leadership will do that - for sure. You guys just make sure that the economic conditions are right for the vibrant growth of a strong middle class out of this next generation. We will accomplish the untouched job of yours in our lifetime. If you listen to those Suranjit babus or Zillurs or Motias or Menons or Selims now, there is an every possibility that our history will laugh at us once more. We do not want that to happen again. Let us take our time to make sure that we do not waste more time.
If enough patience and planning is not used to achieve what is needed, all will be squandered just like the way success was squandered after the 1990. Can you imagine, both Hasina and Khaleda are vying for electoral alliance with Ershad in 17 years time! For those of us who were teenagers during the 1990, it really hurts to think how a nation can be bluffed and fooled by the politicians.
Do not let them to do it with this Jamat issue again. We are ready to go slow, but not ready to miss the train this time.
If you thought some of the ideas are worth of your reading time, please forward it to others. If you have an ear to the members of the CTG, policy makers and lawyers, please forward it to them. If you have an ear to the journalists and news editors of the electronic media, discuss it with them. Hope they would look at the suggestions and give due diligence.
Thanks for your time,
Innovation Line
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Note: This is a freelance column, published mainly in different internet based forums. This column is open for contribution by the members of new generation, sometimes referred to as Gen 71. If you identify yourself as someone from that age-group and want to contribute to this column, please feel free to contact. Thanks to the group moderator for publishing the article.
We have not seen the Liberation War, but we know if we can free the country from corruption first, we will eventually get to other dreams soon. Because of corruption, we could not even get into information highway for years, let alone other dreams!
This is the kind of article for which we started this column. Because of ongoing mess, a gift from our older generation, we often get diverted. Now that it seems some sanity is returning in Bangladesh, we would try to go back to our original plan.
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