Of late there has been much talk about Bangladesh facing the unsettling prospect of a civil war breaking out in the country.
Since the overthrow of the Awami League government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August last year, circumstances have worsened, to a point where the interim administration headed by Muhammad Yunus has been unable to restore stability in the country.
The political change began through large-scale and organized destruction, especially of symbols linked to Bangladesh’s War of Liberation in 1971.
In these seven months, every structure associated with 1971 has come under attack.
In early February, mobs demolished the historic home-cum-museum of the nation’s founder, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, a wanton act of desecration that left an entire nation in a state of shock.
Noticeable in these seven months has been the disturbing rise of radical Islamist forces, those wedded to the Wahhabi brand of the Muslim faith.
The graves of saints — and Bangladesh has been home to Sufis and saints for generations — have been assaulted with impunity, with the security forces unable to prevent such vandalism or bringing the culprits to justice.
In recent times, the spectre of social disorder has continued to expand, despite the regime’s pretence of everything being under control.
Vigilantes have been going after women who, in their lopsided view, have been attired in clothes that violate Islamic norms.
On the streets, before shopping malls, these vigilantes have created an atmosphere, even in the nation’s capital, where women and indeed families are afraid to step out of their homes.
Shops and other small businesses have borne the brunt of attacks by lawless elements.
In a number of instances, policemen, large numbers of whom have not yet rejoined duties in light of the mob assaults on them in the aftermath of the August 2024 political change, have been pounced on by unruly elements.
There have been ugly scenes of mobs barging into homes, ostensibly to locate supporters of the Awami League but in reality to commit robbery.
The home of the son of a prominent advisor, now deceased, of Sheikh Hasina, was broken into by a mob that was soon confronted by local residents and the media demanding an explanation of why they were there. The mobsters had no answer.
Meanwhile, politicians and journalists arrested by the interim regime continue to languish in prison, with little prospect of coming by bail or release anytime soon.
One of the journalists, Farzana Rupa, who was detained along with her fellow-journalist and husband Shakil Ahmed while they waited at the departure lounge of Dhaka airport to board a flight for France some months ago, told the media while being led to court a few days ago that no lawyer was there to represent her before the judiciary.
Rupa’s case in symptomatic of the fate which has befallen other detained media people. Shyamal Dutta, a senior journalist and president of the Bangladesh chapter of the Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA), has repeatedly been denied bail.
To the outrage of citizens, former ministers and lawmakers taken under detention following the political change are routinely brought to court with their hands manacled behind their backs.
Humiliation has clearly become a weapon to be wielded against the functionaries and supporters of the fallen Awami League government.
Add to all this matters which fall into the category of the ironical. A few days ago, the interim regime decreed a ban on travel out of Bangladesh for Sheikh Hasina, her sister Sheikh Rehana and members of their family.
When the reality is that the former prime minister and her family are out of the country and in fact have been away from Bangladesh since last August, this decree by the authorities caused quite a good degree of amusement on social media.
By the way, with newspapers, radio and television maintaining silence on conditions in the country and therefore unable to project a proper picture of social and political conditions, it has been social media to which citizens have taken resort to express their opinions.
On March 7, the anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s call for Bangladesh’s independence in 1971, millions of Bengalis recalled the day on social media.
However, fears of mobs had the Bangladesh media keep a studious silence on an observance of the historic day.
No commemorative articles, generally a feature of the day in the past, were published in newspapers.
Nevertheless, on online media outlets in Bangladesh as well as abroad, focused discussions on the significance of the day were organized, with an unprecedented number of viewers tuning in.
Bangladesh is not in good social or political health. The interim government is yet reluctant to announce a time table for general elections despite the insistence by such parties as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that the vote be held before the end of this year.
Now, with law and order patently in a worsening situation, ominous talk of a civil war has lately been making the rounds.
G.M. Quader, chairman of the Jatiyo Party (formed by his brother the late military ruler General Hussein Muhammad Ershad), has warned that unless the ongoing slide is arrested, the nation could well be pushed to a civil war.
Similar sentiments were echoed by a leading figure of the newly formed National Citizens Party.
More worrisome was the statement by a young advisor in the interim government (he was the individual who pulled down Bangabandhu’s portrait at Bangabhaban, the office-cum-residence of Bangladesh’s President, moments after he was sworn in as advisor) that civil war conditions loomed over the country, that such conditions were being directed from a particular centre (he did not elaborate).
The anarchy currently on the loose across Bangladesh has a credible explanation.
In the final days of the Sheikh Hasina government, a jail break in Narsingdi led to convicted terrorists held as prisoners making good their escape.
And since August, hundreds of individuals convicted of and jailed on charges of terrorism have been bailed or let out of prison.
The times are uncertain. Citizens’ worries deepen day after day. The feeling grows that the slide can only be tackled by a government voted to office in a proper, fair, free and inclusive general election at the earliest possible time.
One could well see a coalition of sorts involving the BNP, the Awami League and the Jatiyo Party taking shape before a campaign for elections gets underway.
These three parties, all of which have been in power in the past, would certainly be wary of the political initiative passing into the hands of elements that have tried upending politics and national history in these seven months since August 2024.
