With a verdict favouring restoration of the provisions of the caretaker govt expected in court soon, Gen Waker-uz-Zaman may seek to throw out the Yunus brigade
The Bangladesh Army has banned protest rallies near the residence of its chief General Waker-uz-Zaman to thwart agitprop hostilities by supporters of interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus.
The move comes in the wake of fast-worsening relations between the Nobel laureate and the Army chief, who put in place the interim government after the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government in August last year.
Army chief upset over 4 developments
But the Army chief has been pushing for early elections, upsetting Yunus who wants to prolong his stay in power apparently to complete wide-ranging reforms.
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Sources close to Gen Waker-uz-Zaman told this writer that the Army chief is very upset over four developments.
Firstly, he has sniffed attempts by the Yunus coterie to remove him from the top job and replace him with Lieutenant General Kamrul Hassan, now principal staff officer in the armed forces division of the PM Office (PMO). Since there is no Prime Minister now, Hassan reports to Yunus and has become his eyes and ears in the army. Hassan flaunted his growing clout by meeting US charge d'affairs Tracy Ann Jacobson recently, sparking alarm in the Waker camp about his efforts to replace the army chief.
Secondly, Waker-uz-Zaman and many Army officers are extremely upset with the Yunus administration after it started releasing the border guards convicted of mutiny and murder in February 2009, when 57 Army officers heading the Bangladesh Rifles and many of their wives were massacred. Islamist hardline groups like the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir have pushed for the release of these mutineers on grounds that they were framed. But Army chief Waker-uz-Zaman and his colleagues are convinced that the mutineers should serve their full sentence, keeping in mind the gravity of their crimes. Nearly 300 of these mutineers have been released since early this year, apparently to placate Islamist hardliners.
Convicted Islamist terrorists released
Thirdly, Gen Waker-uz-Zaman and his colleagues are upset with the release of convicted Islamist terrorists, including top leaders like Jashimuddin Rahmani, chief of the Ansarullah Bangla Team. Army sources say the release of more than 300 such extremists has led to a surge in Islamist radicalism, especially targeting women, even stopping them from playing football and cricket.
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“The Army has been blamed for failing to control Bangladesh’s deteriorating law and order but if the government is soft on those responsible for violence, how can we control the scene,” said a senior Army officer on condition of anonymity.
Finally, Gen Waker-uz-Zaman feels let down on his promise to the nation to hold a free, fair and inclusive election after the recent ban of the country’s oldest and largest political party, the Awami League. He is not opposed to trial of those party leaders and activists involved in crimes like murder, but is against a blanket ban on the whole party to deny its participation in the next parliament election.
Why Yunus has gone soft on radicals
Yunus played soft on the radicals not only because they were the main prop of the anti-Hasina protests but also because the Nobel laureate lacked a political base of his own. But the fallout of such patronage became evident recently when the Women Reforms Commission set up by Yunus submitted its report, recommending a modern family law ensuring gender equality in marriage, inheritance, divorce and related issues.
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The radicals furiously opposed the recommendations, specially one suggesting legalisation of the sex trade to stop exploitation and the one to add 300 Parliament seats reserved for women instead of the present 50. If that happens, Bangladesh Parliament will have as many seats reserved for women as the number of general seats.
The radical groups threatened to topple Yunus and attack women groups demonstrating for implementation of the Women Reforms Commission report, even deriding the Commission as "a whorehouse" and its members a “bunch of prostitutes”.
Arrests inside the Dhaka cantonment
Gen Waker-uz-Zaman is now faced with the stark choice faced by many military leaders in the Islamic world – allow the Muslim fundamentalists to take over to enforce a Sharia-driven Islamist polity or step in to maintain a secular polity to promote social modernisation and economic growth.
On Saturday (May 17), Gen Waker-uz-Zaman met the military secretary to President Shahabuddin Chuppu and then held extensive consultations with his formation commanders. The ban on protest rallies outside Sena Niwas and other military encampments followed soon after.
Waker-uz-Zaman is also set to deliver a special address to his forces at the Army headquarters on Tuesday (May 20) in which ''all available officers have been asked to appear in full combat unform''.
Bangladesh intelligence officials told this writer that some arrests inside the Dhaka cantonment were reported to thwart attempts to ‘promote disaffection’. They say if Yunus tries to pressure President Shahabuddin to replace Waker-uz-Zaman with Kamrul Hassan, the Army chief may push the President to dismiss the interim government and declare Emergency, empowering the Army to go after the radicals and even get the ban on Awami League lifted.
With a verdict favouring restoration of the provisions of the caretaker government expected in the court soon, Gen Waker-uz-Zaman may seek to throw out the Yunus brigade and replace them with a team who will deliver on a fair and inclusive election and step away when that is done. Something that Yunus, with his king-size political ambitions, may never do.
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