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.]

End Of Another Transition Period

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)

Victims of political violence during election year. Data credit 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.