Another Transition Period Ends

Transition period features mysterious incident Pass laws to make it transparent.

Another transition period ended in Bangladesh. Though the same regime retained the power ,it was not a peaceful transition period. To me a transition period stretches from three months prior to election to three months after the election.This one stretches from October 07,2023 to April 07,2024.

The period is marked with spike in violent incidents, workers' unrest,mysterious fire incidents that claimed lives and caused serious damages to property. Back in April ,2019,I wrote about then transition period titled "End of Another Transition Period"¹. Highlighting some parts of it:

…It is only comparable with the twilight or dawn when the nature tries to adapt itself to the changes. ...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.

Current transition period witnessed some horrific incidents. I mentioned some of it in a November 03 piece titled " Another Transition Period Begins"² last year. Latest developments are also added:

1. Fire incident at a commercial building that housed largest servers of Google and Facebook in Bangladesh. It also served as hub of local broadband internet companies. The incident claimed lives of two people. ²

2. A cargo train ignoring instructions of stationmaster hit a passenger train ,killing 18 people and snapping rail links between Dhaka and Chattogram for more than six hours. The incidents occurred few days before grand assembly of the main opposition party in Dhaka. ²

3.Opposition called assembly was marred in widespread violence, killing one policeman in the line of duty and injuring scores of others. Interestingly ruling regime also called on gathering in Dhaka on that day. Dozens of cars were set on fire and police hospital and judges’ residential complex were also attacked. What is interesting this all happened at the stretch of an area where a circle with a 1-km-long radius includes important police installation like detective branch training school,NSI headquarter, several police stations, Secretariat building, installation of President Guard’s regiments and other key public installations. Killing and mayhem without resistance is unthinkable in such a security-tight area.²

4. Opposition called a one-day strike and series of blockade across the country. These programs also witnessed loss of lives(4 opposition activists killed including a journalist) and vandalism. Senior opposition leaders and thousands of opposition activists were detained. ²

5. Another train fire incident at a Dhaka-bound train near Tejagaon Dhaka,killing 4 passengers,on the eve of election day.

6. A horrifying fire incident at Bailey road that gutted down all the restaurants of a building,killing 46 people, on February 28,2024.

7. Fire incident at a sugar depot that resulted in damage of 20,000 tonnes of imported sugar. The depot belongs to a group that holds ownership of several banks.

8.Fire incident at a Jute mill in Khulna,killing 5 people.

9. Fire incident in betel leaf cultivation plots in Kushtia,ruining lives of hundreds of farmers.

10. Fire incident at a bus depot in Demra, near Dhaka,where 14 inter-district buses were completely gutted down.

11. Widespread attack on banks and police stations across Bandarban by an ethnic separatist group known as Kuki-Chin National Front.

12.Like the previous transition period, this period also witnessed widespread garments workers' protest for wage hike, resulted in factory attacks and killing of two workers. In some parts, protest continued in spite of hike assurance. Shut down of 200 factories ensued.

Apart from that numerous slums also fell victim to fire incidents. The nature of fire incidents in Bangladesh calls for serious scrutiny. In other countries, fire did not spread so rapidly at such a short span of time and choked to death so many people. Proper dissemination of forensic report may dispel ambiguities and clear many issues. If there are independent forensic labs under UN / Journalists' body/insurance company,we will have independent forensic report on mysterious fire incidents and extra judicial killing.

Repeating the message I tried to send through the November 03 piece²:

To make the transition period trouble free and violence free,we have to make all the government agencies accountable to the Parliament and the press. In USA,Federal Tort Claims Act³ allows victim American citizens to sue US government or agencies for compensation. In India, then RAW chief RN Kao once appeared before the Parliament to offer his explanation on the role of his agency during the emergency rule,which was marked by gross violation of human rights. I think we should pass laws in the Parliament to make these agencies accountable and restrain them from doing unwarranted acts.Reconciliation and judicial probe could make the transition period as well as the future peaceful.

Notes And References

1. "End of Another Transition Period",Rezaul Hoque,April 10,2019.Here is the link:https://hoquestake.blogspot.com/2019/04/end-of-another-transition-period.html?m=1
2. "Another Transition Period Begins",Rezaul Hoque, November 03,2023.Here is the link https://hoquestake.blogspot.com/2023/11/another-transition-period-begins.html?m=1
3. Federal Tort Claims Act.Here is the link:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Tort_Claims_Act

[Note: I have missed two incidents: one is the robbery at Bagerhat coal-based powerplant a day after the Kuki-Chin attack in Bandarban and another one is the accident of a petrol lorry near Savar ,killing 5 people and setting 5 cars into fire as a result.]