In a manner of speaking the leader of the opposition may have exposed her game plan, which is to create the need for a military intervention by spawning an anarchic situation in the country. Admittedly, for its part the government has done disservice to democracy by imposing restraints on the opposition and by arresting en masse more than hundred fifty of its big shots and workers, and putting them in shackles.
We grant the opposition that the government of Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...is inefficient, corrupt, and authoritarian and which has not given adequate political space to the BNP. We have condemned the AL in these very columns in the past for its injudicious acts and we will keep on doing so till the government mends its ways. But that does not for a moment justify the intervention of the armed forces in politics. Are we to understand that to Begum Zia an unconstitutional military dispensation is preferable to admittedly flawed democracy?
It is a stark revelation of the opposition leader's mindset and speaks very poorly of her commitment to democratic system. It seems that Begum Zia's love for democracy depends on whether she is in power or out of it. Democracy is the only thing to root for under any circumstances, however flawed that might be. Perhaps it is worth reminding her and those that may feel inclined to agree with her that the ills of democracy can only be cured by more democracy.
The role of the military is well defined and we want it to achieve the highest standard of professionalism while being respectful of the constitution. We are happy to note that the military has done the country proud by its contribution to international peace over the last two decades. And our politicians would do well not to involve the military in politics.