Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country. It still seems surreal to put on paper. Scores of people died to topple this government, the numbers in the hundreds to some quarters suggesting north of a thousand. Probably we’ll never know for sure. But we know that it is quite a few times over the combined death toll of the mass uprising of 1969 and the language movement of 1952 -- stories of mass protests and dying to secure one's rights that all Bangladeshis grew up hearing.
It took a generation who came of age during the road safety movement of 2018 to make it happen. Something which many people believed could never be done -- upending the status quo and putting an end to a regime which has been in power for the last 16 years, who became more and more authoritarian by the day.
The mass movement which culminated in the March to Dhaka started off as a protest against the unequal quota distribution in government services. What started off as a peaceful protest, led and coordinated by the students, took a dark turn in mid-July when Sheikh Hasina, so crass and callous in her remarks as the head of the government, mentioned protesting students in the same breath as razakars -- an action beyond any rational mind’s comprehension.
Her irresponsible comments, at a time when students were waiting for her word of assurance as the leader of the country, sparked the fire in an otherwise peaceful movement. And following the leader, in a show of blind and servile obedience, Obaidul Quader, the party general secretary and a then sitting minister, all but gave the Chhatra League -- the student outfit dreaded by most general students in educational institutions throughout the country -- free reign to attack the peacefully protesting students.
The following bloodbath, instigated by the trigger-happy law enforcement officers, which caused the deaths, will remain the biggest spot in our country’s consciousness for years, if not decades to come.
On Monday, hundreds of thousands of student protesters converged towards the capital. Dying by the bullets of police and other miscreants, they marched on, until the authoritarian government fell off the pedestal created by them. But what’s next?
The army chief is trying to assure the people that they have taken responsibility for the country. There is to be a neutral, interim government very soon. For some unknown reason perhaps known only to the known players from the political scene -- Jamaat-e-Islam, who were very recently banned by the now previous regime, senior leaders from the Bangladesh Nationalist Party -- and civil society members were invited (Dr Asif Nazrul was mentioned by name).
The student leaders certainly took note of that and held their own press briefing and informed the country that they too deserve a seat at the table and would share their own plans of how an interim national government would look like.
The Bangladesh army has had its fair share of run-ins with the democratic process of the country, producing military dictators like Ziaur Rahman and Hussain Muhammad Ershad. But they will be wise to take note of the real engine behind this successful mass uprising which has taken Bangladesh back towards hopefully being a functioning democracy again.
They would not and should not be left behind as the “adults” take over the conversation -- reproducing the same system of corruption and power grabbing which seems to define the nature of democracy in Bangladesh.
Career politicians have failed us many times over and are directly responsible for where the country’s democratic institutions are. The Awami League regime has eroded the trust on democratic institutions of the country so thoroughly in the last 15 years, and before them the BNP-Jamaat government, that it feels all but impossible for an interim government to change all that without overstaying their welcome.
After the killing of civilians in the last three weeks, what has been most shocking is the egregious attack on religious minority groups across the country, the showboating around looting in the Gono Bhaban and the wanton destruction of state property.
Everyone, starting from the student protest leaders to the army chief, has rightly implored the general population to control their impulses of mob justice. Indeed, we need to identify who these people are whose first impulse is to mount an attack on the religious minority groups in the country and burn households and temples. We have seen these attacks only too many times and a new Bangladesh won’t be built if the foundations are all the same.
A lot has been said about reviving the institutions in the country which could sustain a democracy of 170 million people. My suggestion to the yet-to-be-formed interim government at the time of writing is threefold.
First, they should focus on establishing a level playing field and strengthening the Election Commission so it can shed its reputation of arranging sham elections. This needs to be done in consultation with all political stakeholders -- and the students are the most crucial stakeholder among them. They have risen in the face of death and torture, in defiance of an authoritarian regime and they deserve to guide the next chapter for the country.
Second, the interim government would also need to ensure that the revenge killings and attacks on minorities that we are witnessing are stopped immediately. The country needs to heal from this and although an elected government with the mandate of the people is best positioned to take steps towards that collective healing, the interim government would have significant responsibilities in starting that process.
Third, establishing a special tribunal for bringing the perpetrators of the killings to justice. Requesting a UN-led investigation committee to start that impartial investigation and supporting them to unearth who pulled the trigger and who gave the instructions would go a long way towards establishing a just and rules-based society. The young people have bled profusely and given their lives to make it happen and the interim government definitely owes them and the rest of the country that much.
Seeped in caprice and venality, our policy making process has been captured by politicians who have failed the country time and time again. After 52 years of independence, people in this country deserve political leadership which would establish a true balance between the power of the state and the society, thereby guiding us towards a democracy where people can be heard and have the right to choose their leaders.
The Bangladesh army and the yet-to-be-formed interim government have a difficult task ahead of starting that process. And all the future governments in Bangladesh with ambition to hold onto power should also take note that trying to obviate the will of the people from the political process will lead to nothing but utter irrelevance and a shameful ousting from power. This is a new Bangladesh. You should choose to be on the right side of history now.
Rakib Avi is a development practitioner and is a former student of University of Dhaka.
