The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon welcomed the participation of the opposition in City Corporations elections and appealed to the authorities to ensure that the elections will be transparent, inclusive and credible. He further expressed the hope that the political parties will soon find a way to overcome their differences.
Under healthy politics and true political leadership such hope of dignified role of the political parties would have been very encouraging and purposeful. It appears that the international community is not getting deep into the nature of our helplessness. Otherwise, it would have been clear that, to call it politics or whatever, the battle for our parties is about elimination of the opposition. The opposition has already been excluded from the national election for continuing in power.
The dispute is a national one of grave nature: whether our people have lost their right to vote for choosing their government for all time to come. So the political difference is not just about party politics. In fact, the politics is about making people powerless.
Our political leadership is mostly void of consideration of national interests. The democratic structure that was established under a democratic Constitution came under fatal attack within two-three years of introducing the same. One party system was formed in 1975 with nothing left of democracy.
The nation is surprised to find itself leaderless for saving democracy. Our supposed to be political leaders are anything but political leaders who talk of democracy but doing everything against democratic practices.
In the national election of January 5th the people lost their voting right altogether. The present movement is for a fresh election to be held in a free and inclusive manner.
It is doubted with every justification if there is any real change of heart for holding the city corporations’ elections democratically tolerating multi-party democratic change.
It will be wrong to think that without any prior understanding mere participation in the elections of the three city corporations by the opposition can be a hopeful development towards ending the crisis. The democratic politics is akin to tango dance and it takes two to dance. We cannot be really sure who are our effective leaders leading the country towards disunity and anarchy against the wishes of the people. The fight is between anti-people forces afraid of honest election and democracy.
After election manipulation has become the way of capturing power it is not easy to submit to election politics.
However much humiliating it is for our educated ones, it is undeniable that we are failing totally to help our people and the country from dissolving into ceaseless strife and loss of life. Such a situation will not mean a two-sided struggle between the two parties.
Where the leaders do not consider it necessary to engage with each other it is glaringly clear that no signs of leadership are to be found expecting them to be trying to resolving the serious national crisis confronting the nation.
There are those who abnormally think that they have conquered the country through the liberation war and so their rule and not the people’s rule must prevail. Democracy can have no meaning to them. The other side is a defeated party and must remain in submission. This is like declaring war against the whole nation.
By relying too much on police power instead of people’s power for suppressing the movement for democracy, we have police force behaving without care for obeying law as admitted by the Chairman of our Human Rights Commission recently. He had to say it clearly about police behaving tyrannically.
When the government opts for tough police action that in turn creates more desperate violence. It is time for the government to reconsider its decision to realize that the current political crisis is not for the police to resolve.
Unfortunately, the tragic clashes and bloodletting that has been going on for months over the demand for fresh election will have no end if we have to depend on the current leadership who are made to follow the wrong path.
We are having violence versus more violent battles but no political thinking for political way out. It is not understandable how no election can produce a peaceful political solution. It is unknown to us.
So our people need help to save themselves from brutish politics of death and destruction with no one to turn to for leadership. The game is too ferocious and too unsafe for peace and safety. The general fear is that the city corporations’ elections will solve nothing. These elections are more for the preparations on both sides to be more ruthless in days to come. According to adventurists, safe under government, showing all recklessness to see that the politics of elimination must succeed. But our people cannot remain powerless and friendless to be victims.
