The election of ghosts in Bangladesh

Press, 6 November 1981, Page 12

The election of ghosts in Bangladesh

By

GWYNNE DYER

in London

In Bangladesh, on November 15, they are having an election between two dead men. The names on the ballot papers are those of living men: the frail acting president, Mr Abdus Sattar, who was practically on his own deathbed when Bangladesh’s last" President was killed in May, and 'Dr Kamal Hossain, who looks like one of the youthful matinee idols in the subcontinent’s prolific movie industry. But they are merely standing in for the real candidates, who are unable to address the crowds themselves, having been murdered by the army. There are some 70 other candidates running for president in this impoverished nation of 90 million people, but there are only two real contenders. One is the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (8.N.P.), a somewhat artificial party created by the late president, General Ziaur Rahman, when he decided to legalise his rule in 1978. The other is the Awami League, a fractious coalition of vaguely Left-wing parties. But both these parties are mainly vehicles for the personalities of the two dead men

who have defined Bangladesh’s politics: its first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who died in a hail of army bullets in 1975, and his successor, General Ziaur Rahman, who was shot down by army mutineers in Chittagong last May.

When Mr Abdus Sattar helicopters into some village to address an election crowd, the slogans are not about him: the cheerleaders chant “President Zia. Remember the martyr.” And when Dr Kamal Hossain whistle-stops around the country by train, it is not his name the crowds call. out. It is “Sheikh Mujib. Banglabandhu (friend of the Bengalis).” Bangladesh was born amidst vast carnage in 1971, when the savage insurrection against Pakistani rule finally achieved victory thanks to the massive intervention of the Indian army. Sheikh Mujib, the ‘Father of the Nation,” never forgot his debt, and his foreign policy closely followed that of Mrs Indira Gandhi’s India. As Mujib’s chaotic rule gradually foundered ip mismanagement and massive corruption, he also turned increasingly to India for support against his domestic opponents.

Unfortunately for him, this fatally alienated his own army. The new Bangladesh army was composed partly of regular troops who formerly had been part of the Pakistani army, and partly of former Mukhti Bahini, the Indian-trained guerrillas who had fought under Mujib’s control. The regular officers were bitterly jealous of the more rapid promotion given to .these Mujib loyalists, and eventually Mujib went one step too far; In 1975, with his popularity at home close to zero, Mujib began to expand his Awami League militia to a force bigger than the army, sending numbers of them to India for training. Enraged- youhg army

officers murdered him and most all his family, and after several weeks of bloody coups and counter-coups General Ziaur Rahman managed to reestablish- order. Under Zia, Bangladesh moved away from its former Indian and Soviet ties towards closer links with Pakistan, China and the West. He was personally incorruptible, and with the help of good weather arid massive Western aid, Bangladesh even i managed to achieve some economic development. But Zia attracted more respect than love amongst the population, and the average Bangladeshi is still worse off than he was ten years ago. Worse yet, Zia never really mastered the turbulent army. The rank and file have been ' deeply penetrated by revolutionary movements whose programmes sound almost as rumless and bloodthirsty as the Khmer Rouged, and are never far from mutiny. The officer corps is much more conservative, but equally prone to revolt. By one count, Zia survived 18 attempted coups, but his luck ran out in Chittagong on May 30. The army’s Chief of Staff, General H. M. Ershad, man-

aged to quell the coup and hanged the mutineers. Bangladesh is now holding elections to choose Zia’s successor, but the results will probably only stick if the army’s candidate wins. The two presidential candidates are not merely stand-ins for dead men: they are overshadowed even by the living. General Ershad confesses that he dragged the aged and reluctant Vice-President, Mr Abdus Sattar, from his hospital bed because he feared the ruling B.N.P. would otherwise have fallen apart while bickering over rival candidates. Nobody expects the 75-year-old candidate to last a full term; if he wins, the constitution will be

changed to let an army-ap-proved Vice-President succeed him. . , . .. The Awami Leagues candidate, Dr Kamal Hossain, is similarly only a front man for sheikh Mujib’s- 35-year-old daughter Hasina, one of the few survivors of the 1975 massacre, who returned from a selfimposed six-year exile in India last March.; If Hossain wins, he ' will try to abolish the presidency and call a parliamentary election, from which Hasina would probably emerge as Prime Minister. Then the Awami League would restore Mujib’s socialist system — and also, presumably, his close ties with India. But that is something which Bangladesh’s army would not permit to happen. General Ershad has already said that the army must negotiate. a large role in the post-election government. “To stop further coups, if the army participates in the administration of the country, they will probably have the feeling they are also involved, and thev will not be frustrated.” But this assumes that the right man wins. If by some mischance the Awami League should win the election, the army is unlikely to proceed by means of negotiations.