Bangladesh has ended another transition period. It is the period that witnesses departure of a regime and assumption of power by a new one. Since the ruling party is maintaining the status quo, we do not see any change in power. To me a transition period stretches from three months prior to election to three months after the election. In that light this transition period lasted from October 2018 to March 2019.It is only comparable with the twilight or dawn when the nature tries to adapt itself to the changes.
In Bangladesh, this transition period bears a negative connotation as it is marked with violent political events and regime changes. The administration during this period behaves more freely than under any other regime, people believe. But rival political parties here have inveterate tendency not to walk along the path of reconciliation. So any proposal that involves cooperation with the rivals is often faced intransigence from feuding parties. The result is violent clashes. This time things were bit different. Cornered opposition went to poll while the main opposition leader in jail. Literally main opposition was absent from electoral campaign. So pre and post election violence did not claim that much lives. But credit should not be attributed to transitory administration. Absence of strong opposition was perhaps the reason. Just take a look at the stat on political violence. In 2001, there were 26,426 victims (killed plus injured) of political violence. In 2006, the number of victims stood at 21,639. In 2009, the number of victims was 15,810. In 2013, the turbulent election year witnessed 24,680 persons fell victim of political violence. And in 2018, this number significantly declined to 7171.(Source: Odhikar)
As I have said climate of fear and coercion held the opposition back from full fledged electoral campaign. So the rival parties in many constituencies did not face any head to head confrontation. However, like 2013,this transition period has also been marked by non-deployment of Army. Yet the period is not as much violent as it was in 2013.
Stat on political violence during the transition period will give some indication how well the administration played its role. For December 2018 and March 2019, I could not found any data on political violence. Two NGOs---Odhikar and Ain O Salish Kendra--- that keep records of human rights have yet to reveal them. As per the statistics of Odhikar, in October and November, there have been 390 and 472 victims of political violence. According to ASK, in January-February 2019, there have been 29 incidents of political violence resulting in 8 deaths and 371 injuries. This tally could go high if we include the victims of extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance. And we have to keep it in mind that there has been an ongoing anti-drug war, already marred by incidents of innocent civilian killing.
Though ruling party has an overarching influence over the transition administration, transition administration could boast the figure as its success. Casualties from intra party clash left a blot on that claim.
As per the annual stat of Odhikar, there have been 281 incidents of factional clash in Awami League and 14 incidents of infighting within BNP. Intra party clashes resulted in 53 deaths and 3225 injuries for Awami League and 3 deaths and 115 injuries for BNP. My personal observation is that the figures would go up if we have taken into account undocumented incidents and extrajudicial killings. Clearly it is a proof that the transitory administration failed to reign in intra party violence.
Another striking thing I noticed in the last half of the transition period is the rising number of workers' unrest and fire incidents. While the former managed to raise the basic salary significantly, the latter caused deaths of innocent civilians and triggered suspicion among general population. Government should immediately form a judicial investigation committee to probe on the fire incidents to dispel any suspicion. Fatalities from road mishaps have also gone up in the above period. These incidents call into question smooth functioning of transitory administration.
In the past we saw that bloody tragedies struck in this period taking full advantage of the lethargic state of transitory period. The main task of this kind of administration is to pass the baton from one elected government to another. In doing so, breaking down of public order often destabilizes homeostasis of the state. This year it is a different story. Lesser number of fatalities is attributed to the absence of major political parties from electoral campaign. To ensure accountability and transparency of interim administration, further amendments could be brought to existing laws that spell out duties of this administration.
In Bangladesh, this transition period bears a negative connotation as it is marked with violent political events and regime changes. The administration during this period behaves more freely than under any other regime, people believe. But rival political parties here have inveterate tendency not to walk along the path of reconciliation. So any proposal that involves cooperation with the rivals is often faced intransigence from feuding parties. The result is violent clashes. This time things were bit different. Cornered opposition went to poll while the main opposition leader in jail. Literally main opposition was absent from electoral campaign. So pre and post election violence did not claim that much lives. But credit should not be attributed to transitory administration. Absence of strong opposition was perhaps the reason. Just take a look at the stat on political violence. In 2001, there were 26,426 victims (killed plus injured) of political violence. In 2006, the number of victims stood at 21,639. In 2009, the number of victims was 15,810. In 2013, the turbulent election year witnessed 24,680 persons fell victim of political violence. And in 2018, this number significantly declined to 7171.(Source: Odhikar)
As I have said climate of fear and coercion held the opposition back from full fledged electoral campaign. So the rival parties in many constituencies did not face any head to head confrontation. However, like 2013,this transition period has also been marked by non-deployment of Army. Yet the period is not as much violent as it was in 2013.
Stat on political violence during the transition period will give some indication how well the administration played its role. For December 2018 and March 2019, I could not found any data on political violence. Two NGOs---Odhikar and Ain O Salish Kendra--- that keep records of human rights have yet to reveal them. As per the statistics of Odhikar, in October and November, there have been 390 and 472 victims of political violence. According to ASK, in January-February 2019, there have been 29 incidents of political violence resulting in 8 deaths and 371 injuries. This tally could go high if we include the victims of extrajudicial killing and enforced disappearance. And we have to keep it in mind that there has been an ongoing anti-drug war, already marred by incidents of innocent civilian killing.
Though ruling party has an overarching influence over the transition administration, transition administration could boast the figure as its success. Casualties from intra party clash left a blot on that claim.
As per the annual stat of Odhikar, there have been 281 incidents of factional clash in Awami League and 14 incidents of infighting within BNP. Intra party clashes resulted in 53 deaths and 3225 injuries for Awami League and 3 deaths and 115 injuries for BNP. My personal observation is that the figures would go up if we have taken into account undocumented incidents and extrajudicial killings. Clearly it is a proof that the transitory administration failed to reign in intra party violence.
Another striking thing I noticed in the last half of the transition period is the rising number of workers' unrest and fire incidents. While the former managed to raise the basic salary significantly, the latter caused deaths of innocent civilians and triggered suspicion among general population. Government should immediately form a judicial investigation committee to probe on the fire incidents to dispel any suspicion. Fatalities from road mishaps have also gone up in the above period. These incidents call into question smooth functioning of transitory administration.
In the past we saw that bloody tragedies struck in this period taking full advantage of the lethargic state of transitory period. The main task of this kind of administration is to pass the baton from one elected government to another. In doing so, breaking down of public order often destabilizes homeostasis of the state. This year it is a different story. Lesser number of fatalities is attributed to the absence of major political parties from electoral campaign. To ensure accountability and transparency of interim administration, further amendments could be brought to existing laws that spell out duties of this administration.
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