Bangladesh – The State of Emergency

27Jan07

Commissioned by Scotland on Sunday – Date of Publication TBC

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‘State of Emergency,’ Iajuddin Rahman, the President of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh announced before he calmly resigned from office last week.

There has always been a state of ‘emergency’ in South Asia’s youngest sovereign nation: In 1970, it was a cyclonic tidal surge, that killed over 500,000 people, in 2006, exposure of the use of child labour by British multinationals, and in the future, mankind will look back at the 60 million people currently being poisoned by arsenic in the groundwater and label it the biggest humanitarian disaster of the 21st century…

… Pakistan witnessed a military coup in 1999 with General Pervez Musharraf becoming the chief executive of the country. Although Musharraf got repeated requests from the international community to restore democracy, his open offensives on Islamist militancy have kept him in the good books of western leaders.

A similar regime could also emerge in Bangladesh, which would crush Islamic militancy as well as take a hard line on corruption. Autocracy, guided with a strong and fair left hand, so that democracy could grow once again from the good will of the people, may be the best option available at present.

‘State of Emergency’ rings alarm bells for all Bangladeshis who dared to survive the 1971 War of Independence. The dream was vivid then, a democratic, secular nation, with reform and equality as its guiding principles. Unfortunately, 35 years on, it’s time to wake up and smell the Bengali tea – Bangladesh, is back where it started.

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