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New year braces for political quagmire
With no considerable progress in bringing reforms to political parties in the last one year, the two major parties, BNP and Awami League (AL), are issuing apparent threats of launching agitations to free their detained chiefs, as a harbinger of yet another political turmoil that might plague the country into the new year.Leaders of major political parties hinted that their demand for lifting the state of emergency restoring full-scale political activities might be strengthened as the Election Commission (EC) is preparing to hold the long overdue polls to some local governments between April and May next year. The ongoing agitation for trials of war criminals also might gain momentum as most of the political parties already extended their support for the nascent movement launched by the forum of sector commanders in the liberation war. Teachers of Dhaka University might also launch agitations again to free their detained colleagues and students. The political climate however still remains almost as it has been since 1/11 in absence of reforms in the political parties, despite the government promises of new politics in the country, which supposedly would ensure financial transparency and democratic practices within the parties. It has been learnt by talking to senior leaders of AL, BNP, and Jatiya Party that no progress in reforming the parties has been achieved yet, and no sign is there pointing to that direction on their own initiatives. But a major change is likely to come in the political arena after March, as by that time, the EC is scheduled to finalise its reform proposals, when it is also supposed to ask the parties to prepare for getting registered with the commission by June, as the parliamentary election is supposed to be held no later than next December. The parties are supposed to amend their constitutions and elect new committees meeting the criteria for their registration with the EC. They are supposed to hold their national councils, for which political activities across the country must be allowed by the government to ensure involvement of the grassroots level leaders in the process of holding democratic councils. So, to implement its electoral roadmap, the government will have to either lift or relax the restrictions on indoor politics across the country allowing the parties to hold their councils to get registered with the EC, which is mandatory for contesting in the much awaited next parliamentary election. Besides, the caretaker government will have to either lift or relax the state of emergency in the divisional headquarters of Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, Syhlet, and Barisal to hold the long overdue polls to the five city corporations starting next May. In the wake of the prevailing political situation, no major political party has made any progress towards the much-hyped party reform, although indoor politics has been allowed in the capital for almost four months now. Posted by: Fred 2007-12-26 |
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