Dr Q M Jalal Khan

In the context of Bangladesh’s dirty and filthy electoral politics, a new and neutral Caretaker Government (CTG)–be it a transition, interim or stopgap government, and a completely revamped and reconstituted Election Commission to hold free, fair, credible and participatory national/parliamentary and local elections are an absolute necessity.

Such elections are next to impossible, a far cry under any ruling party, be it the traditionally fascist Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) or the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), though the latter is much lesser of the two evils, both however being dishonest and committing fraud and election rigging, of course, in varying degrees, from somewhat tolerably defective (BNP) to intolerably vulgar, offensive, bulldozing and bowdlerizing (BAL).

The latter, that is the BAL, made an utter and outright mockery of people’s lives and rights during 2009-2024. In addition to stealing their votes and monies in an unprecedented scale, the now-gone 16-year-old regime of dictator Sheikh Hasina, a cruel criminal to the core, was responsible for committing blood-clotting and heart-wrenching massacre after massacre and unleashing oppression, repression, persecution, discrimination, terror and torture so wildly and openly that it all beggared description. Hasina, a she-hyena and tyrant of most heinous and hissing kind, did so by the force of her brutal police power and party cadres, as her party, which is no doubt a party of crooks and criminals, did the very similar things, of exceedingly atrocious and monstrous nature, under her father during 1972-1975.

The CTG system was there in place for at least for two terms, first in 1996 and then in 2001. The system was then initially partly tainted by the BNP and then completely discolored and distorted by the Indian-influenced 1/11 (1 January 2007) government of ‘ghora’ Moinuddin-Fakhuddin-Masududdin-Iajuddin, a government completely ‘uddinized’ and hijacked in favor of the Hasina BAL, traditionally a terrorist and terrorizing mafia party. It was then tyrannically cancelled, in 2011, by Hasina with her ever dark and devilish intentions.

In abolishing the CTG system so that she did not have to face a free and fair election any longer conducted under a CTG and thereby risk losing the election, she cynically took the advantage of the ruling of the notorious Justice Khairul Hoque, a horribly pro-Hasina element.

At first, Khairul Hoque penned that the CTG was in clash with the constitution and so it was to go, but that if the rival political parties wanted, it could still be there for two more terms to conduct national elections. That was the main gist of the judgement made public upfront and that was to be counted and considered binding, as the legal experts deliberated.

In the meantime, Khairul Hoque retired and months later, perhaps about six months later, Khairul Hoque, while in retirement, wrote/forwarded the full verdict and that also with some critical changes or modifications, adding that elections could be held by/under a CTG only if the parliament so wished/wanted. Otherwise, CTG had to be done away with and elections were to be conducted by/under the ruling party. Given the fact that the parliament was dominated by Awami followers and flatterers, it went without saying that the fascist Awami parliament would never approve of the CTG system anymore and would never challenge or contradict the wishes of their sole supremo, Sheikh Hasina.

So, instead of reforming the system and fixing the loopholes if there any, she took the purely political but devilish and crooked step of having the CTG cut out of the constitution and went on holding shockingly sham and shoddy elections to keep herself in power for long 16 years, not to speak her endless and relentless and ruthless oppression and repression and loot and plunder for that long too!
That was then, until 5 August, a most critical and crucial juncture in the history of Bangladesh under the fascist Awami rule.

This short paper argues for the immediate return of such an interim CTG system in this happy and opportune moment following the collapse of the extremely fetid and fascist regime. Just like the collapse of Sheikh Mujib on 15 August was expedited/invited by the excesses committed by him and his paramilitary Rakkhibahini force, horrible Hasina’s also was a collapse that was hastened by the bloody violence resorted to by her excessively authoritarian hand and her police goons and other hoodlums and hooligans in the different branches of her party and the state, either armed with live and lethal weapons or legal and judicial power. The brief write-up is about the necessity of an impartial but patriotic interim government and an Election Commission. The former of those bodies (CTG) is to be constituted and/or reinstated and the latter (EC) is to be revamped and reconstituted, both in the greatest interest of the entire Bangladeshi nation now.

The CTG system, when in place in the recent past, was found to be a sane, sound and sensible system for holding a free and fair parliamentary election through a truly independent Election Commission (EC). It was hailed as a positive, practical and forward-looking move. As mentioned above, the CTG system was despotically thrown out by tyrant Hasina via a dirty backdoor move in 2011. She did so in her ever depraved and devious state of mind to stay in power for an indefinite period.

A woman of completely cynical, vindictive, nefarious and nihilistic intentions given to total anarchy and lawlessness, Hasina has been dubbed as a ‘crime minister’ and ‘prime monster’. Reckless and ruthless Hasina did away with CTG for she wanted to continue with her black and vile police regime and their endless oppression, widespread persecution and discrimination, draconian suppression of free speech, wholesale loot and corruption, and massive vote rigging in election after election -– all of which were of overwhelming proportion destroying the entire range of state apparatus as well as the private institutions from 2009 to 2024.

In complete solidarity with the people and student protesters and the Yunus government of Bangladesh today, we say in no uncertain terms that the first thing needs to be done first. It’s a great relief that the fascist Hasina and her vicious circle of evil cronies were forced to leave. A constitutional reform is the task of the hour.

There was no disagreement concerning the removal of the horribly fascist Hasina, her predatory Awami locusts and legions and her crooked and clownish cadres that had previously taken control of the country for almost two decades. They were all full of deadly venom and vitriol against the democratic political opposition and patriotic nationalists. The other name of the horrible Hasina was her terribly toxic infatuation with the communal, fanatical and fundamentalist Hindutva Hindustan (also known as India or Bha-rat), even at the expense and violation of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bangladesh. Her ouster, no doubt, was the first and foremost concern bearing the urgency and priority of immediate necessity and that mission has been accomplished by the successful student-people uprising.

Removing the fascist regime first was automatically a prerequisite for an interim, transitional government. People of Bangladesh were already mounting pressure on the Awami fascists to go. Our dream of freedom, social justice and rule of law had seriously eroded and was severely curtailed and compromised by that deadly and most vindictive lady Hitler Hasina and her lackeys and loonies in the parliament and the judiciary and the police and the intelligence. There was no justice at all, no freedom of speech whatsoever, with thousands and thousands of people jailed, murdered, tortured, killed, imprisoned, humiliated, maimed, kidnapped and disappeared.

The recent bloodbath (18 July-5 August 2024) is just one example. Considering the above views and opinions, a neutral transition to save the people of Bangladesh from any future claws and clutches of any fascist parties which by definition become full of crooks and clowns and sycophants and scoundrels needs to enshrined and constitutionalized. It is only through the administrative mechanism of a neutral CTG and an EC entrusted with holding free, fair, credible and participatory national polls that the nation can hope to settle for a democratic and peace-loving community all across the country. At the same time, the rotten Bangladesh Awami League (BAL), due to their mega loots, corruption, oppression, repression, persecution, terror and torture for the last sixteen years, should either be banned or kept out of any government and electoral politics for the next 100 years, if not more!

The writer is a, co-author and lead editor:

1. Bangladesh: Social Media Outcries Against the Awami Fascism
2. Bangladesh: Political and Literary Reflections on a Divided Country
3. Bangladesh Divided: Reflections on a Corrupt Police and Prison State
4. Bangladesh: A Suffering People Under State Terrorism
5. Bangladesh in Bondage: Tarique Rahman, SQC, LB, and Other Essays
6. Begum Khaleda Zia: People's Leader of Bangladesh
7. Bangladesh Under Awami Tyranny
8. President Ziaur Rahman: Legendary Leader of Bangladesh
9. India’s Hegemonic Design in Bangladesh
10. আওয়ামী ফ্যাসিবাদ: দেশপ্রেমের বিদ্রোহী পংক্তিমালা (Awami Fascism in Bangladesh: Patriotic Verses of Rebellion)
11. Bangladesh: The 5 August liberation, national anthem controversy and other essays (forthcoming).