Noor Hossain and participatory democracy in Bangladesh

Ripan Kumar Biswas

To justify the national political interests focused on formulating political agendas rather than merely fielding candidates for election, participatory democracy can be a genuine grass roots effort to define the political objective and apply the best solutions to the problems.
   Twenty years ago, a young pro-democracy activist Noor Hossain, having the spectacular slogan "Down with anarchy, democracy be freed" inscribed on his chest and back, defined the quest for democracy in Bangladesh. Sacrificing his life in police firing on Nov 10, 1987 at the Zero Point in the capital while protesting the misrule and atrocities of the former president HM Ershad, fuelled the democracy campaign to reach to a crescendo and hastened the end of his rule on Dec 6, 1990.
   Witnessing the schism within the BNP activists divided between of pro-Khaleda and pro-reformist factions at the grave of BNP founder and late President Ziaur Rahman, political analysts tend to agree that the participatory democracy would be the best solution for all members to make meaningful contributions to decision-making and to broaden information for overall decision-making process to succeed. The leaders of the party's dissident group were violently chased by Khaleda-loyalists near the grave while observing the National Solidarity Day earlier on November 7.
   Meanwhile, responding to the present on going demand to lift the ban on indoor politics throughout the country and the state of emergency, acting President of Awami League (AL) Zillur Rahman said that the state of emergency was clamped under an unusual situation, and everyone supported it but there is no necessity of keeping the state of emergency in force now. While welcoming some political activists who formerly joined AL at his residence on November 8, Rahman said everyone who believed in the ideology of AL, Sheikh Mujibar Rahman and in the independence of Bangladesh is also welcome into the party.
   While he urged to withdraw the ban on indoor politics throughout the country as there is no untoward incident anywhere and political parties need preparation for the next national polls, the present military backed interim government ordered law enforcement agencies to keep vigil so that the conditions under which the ban on indoor politics has been lifted are not violated.
   According to the home secretary Abdul Karim, the law enforcement agencies have been instructed to ensure that the conditions on indoor politics are maintained. The move for strict adherence to the conditions on indoor politics under the state of emergency came after the BNP reformist group faced the wrath of pro-Khaleda activists. Earlier this year on September 12 - two days after the lifting on ban on indoor politics - four AL reformist leaders were also assaulted by the activists of pro-Sheikh Hasina group.
   In view of widespread public interests against the corrupt politicians and their misdeeds, common people seem to believe that something acceptable would come out of this exercise for them to enjoy actual taste of democracy in the country. Following the imposition of emergency, leaders of both AL and BNP and other political parties had proposed reforms focusing on the introducing a collective leadership and discarding the present chairman from the post of Chairman.
   Considering the decisions of BNP's national standing committee meeting held on 23 October as appropriate, the Election Commission (EC) decided to invite the acting secretary general of the party, Hafizuddin Ahmed, Bir Bikram, to participate in the dialogue with the EC scheduled for November 22. Incidentally, the BNP's pro-Khaleda group described the meeting as illegal. A BNP delegation led by party chairperson Khaleda Zia's adviser ASM Hannan Shah called on the CEC and submitted a letter explaining why the standing committee meeting was considered illegal.
   However, the EC after reviewing BNP constitution, power and action of the party's chairperson and the standing committee together with the existing political situation in the country and stood by its decision to invite the BNP acting secretary general.
   Meanwhile, in a recent interview with a New York-based Bengali weekly newspaper, Bangladesh army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed (while on a short visit), emphasised to encourage honest and qualified politicians in Bangladesh.
   Perhaps, an ideal politicians may not be easy to find in Bangladesh or for that matter anywhere else, but would it be too much for the people to expect that who join politics should be honest and are willing to understand the difficulties and problems of the people and try to sort them out for their convenience? After all, they join politics to serve the people and not to become fabulously rich over night. What the army chief is asking for does not appear to be too much for any aspiring politician.
   If that does not happen and grass-root level politicians fail to turn the corner, the sacrifices made by the people like Noor Hossain would go in vain.
   Ripan Kumar Biswas is a freelance writer based in New York.

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BRAC Bank Limited has recently inaugurated its new branch at Shyamoli and re-located branch at Gulshan, Dhaka.
   Fazle Hasan Abed, Chairman of BRAC Bank Limited inaugurated the new Shyamoli branch and re-located Gulshan branch. Imran Rahman, Managing Director and CEO of BRAC Bank Limited; other senior officials of BRAC Bank Limited, local dignitaries and a large number of Bank's customers were also present during the inauguration ceremonies. Both the branches have ATM (Automated Teller Machine) facilities for providing 24 hour cash withdrawal facility for its customers.
   Currently, BRAC Bank has 29 branches, 45 ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), 10 CDMs (Cash Deposit Machines), 400 SME Unit Offices, 1800 Remittance Delivery Points and 500 POS (Point of Sales) across the country.

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