Bangladesh: No eminent logic in 'election only after Hasina's hanging'

Bangladesh's descent into a vendetta republic ruled by mobocracy touched a new low this month when a new political party formed by student leaders involved in prime minister Sheikh Hasina's ouster called for her hanging before any elections could be held in the country.

Immediately after the formation of the Jatiyo Nagorik Party (National Citizens Party), its chief organiser for northern region, Sarjis Alam, warned against "any talk of elections" until Hasina, now in India, was brought to justice.

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Speaking to the media after visiting the graves of those killed during the anti-Hasina agitation last year, Alam said: “No one should even mention elections until Sheikh Hasina is brought to justice. There will be no election in Bangladesh until the murderer Hasina is seen on the gallows.”

Anti-Hasina rhetoric

He justified his pitch for Hasina's trial by pointing to the sacrifice of those who lost their lives last year. "The brothers who died on the streets and the mothers whose eyes continue to shed tears — we want to see Hasina’s trial before we die. I appeal to all of you to stand with us and support the mothers in their fight for justice."

Alam asserted that Hasina, who flew out of Dhaka before mobs could overrun her residence, must be brought to Bangladesh to face trial and eventually mount the gallows for her actions.

The event was attended by a large number of JNP leaders and activists, including the party’s convenor Nahid Islam, secretary Akhtar Hossain, chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari, southern region’s chief organizer Hasnat Abdullah and senior joint chief coordinator Abdul Hannan Masud.

Yunus is complicit

That this pitch for bringing Hasina to justice enjoys total support from the head of the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, soon became evident when the Nobel laureate told Skynews in an interview that Hasina and "all her associates" would be tried for their crimes.

Yunus said his government has asked India to send back Hasina to face justice. "But if she is not sent back, the process of justice will continue and she will be tried in absentia," Yunus said.

Yunus also said that Hasina's family members and associates ("all those who supported and promoted her") will face trial. "It is not a question of who supported her more enthusiastically or less enthusiastically, because they all supported her," he. This means that Yunus and the JNP leaders see the trial as a process which will clearly take a long time to get over.

Political parties upset

This pitch for Hasina's 'trial-first-and-elections-later' has clearly upset the country's leading political parties.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which has ruled the country alternatively with Hasina's Awami League since the end of military dictatorship in 1991, appeared most upset. Its chairperson Khaleda Zia, now in Europe for medical treatment, recently called for early elections.

Even the army chief, General Waqar-u-Zaman, had pitched for elections in 2025. All that now seems to have gone for a toss.

BNP’s allegation

Senior BNP leaders say that while they want Hasina and those close to her to be tried, there is no good reason to link the trials to the elections. BNP leaders like Mirza Abbas, who think their party stands to gain the most if elections were held soon, feel this linking is clearly a conspiracy to delay the elections indefinitely.

Jatiya Party leader Masroor Mawla says Bangladesh will fail to attract fresh investments unless elections are held soon.

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The Awami League, whose leaders and activists are on the run at the moment, also see this as a ploy to indefinitely extend the tenure of the illegal interim government.

Yunus against early election

The Bangladesh constitution does not provide for an interim government. However, the army chief initiated the formation of one in August 2024, citing the doctrine of necessity to provide the country with a functional government after Hasina's flight.

But most political parties, except the hardline Jamaat-e-Islami, are ill at ease with the extension of the tenure of the interim government.

In contrast, Yunus and the student leaders are against early elections. This is why they first came up with the argument that time is needed to first complete the reforms undertaken by the interim government before elections can be held.

What Islamist students want

When the narrative was challenged on grounds that reforms were the business of an elected and not an unelected government, a new excuse had to be found. Hence the pitch now for Hasina’s trial.

The new party, which some dub as the King's party, actually needs a lot of time to find its feet in Bangladesh whose politics has been dominated by the Awami League and the BNP since the end of military rule. As the JNP's political base is primarily amongst students and youths, they plan to first go through Union elections in colleges and universities across the country to create a leadership nucleus at the grassroots. They will then possibly test their strength in local bodies and finally go for national parliamentary elections.

An early national election may catch the nascent organisation on the wrong foot and deny it the opportunity to leverage the political capital provided by the violent July-August street protests last year.

Move against India?

Since India has sheltered Hasina after her ouster and its ties with the Yunus dispensation are at best lukewarm, the demand for Hasina's trial ahead of elections is an obvious attempt to mount pressure on New Delhi to extradite her.

Since the Yunus government has officially requested India for Hasina's extradition and New Delhi has not responded, the linking of the trial to the election may be an attempt to put the blame on India for any delay in holding elections in Bangladesh.

This is primarily for domestic consumption and is designed to leverage the prevailing anti-Indian sentiments in Bangladesh.

Widow under attack

On the night, just after Yunus was done with his Skynews interview, a mob descended on a house in Dhaka's posh Gulshan locality. It belonged to the divorced wife of the son of Hasina's late political advisor HT Imam. The mob was reportedly looking for millions of rupees purportedly stashed inside.

The police and army reached the scene and found nothing. But they did not chase the mob away from the lone woman and her infant child in the house. It was later discovered that the rumours were spread by enemies of the house owner.

Widespread lawlessness

Such incidents are frequent. The all-pervading lawlessness is also blamed by the government on the Awami League, which it accuses of trying to discredit the authorities.

But the lawlessness points to a greater worry shared by the citizenry — can the country have free and fair elections in such a climate of fear? This, too, works well for those in no hurry to have elections anytime soon.