Bangladesh is a parliamentary based democracy, run by the Prime Minister’s office and a President as Head of State. The President and Speaker of Parliament is appointed by parliament.
This half year is an election period. 6 months before a general election is held the sitting ruling party [alliance] steps down and a neutral non-partisan Care Taker Government (CTG) steps in and runs the country until a new government is elected and constituted. The person who becomes acting Prime Minister (titled Chief Advisor to the Caretaker Government) for the interim government is the country’s Chief Justice to the Supreme Court, and this person in turn appoints 10 additional Advisors. This process is provided in the constitution of the People’s Republic and in all fairness looks very good on paper. So far so good.
But that’s where the rout to ‘so far so good’ ends, and a new highway with many detours and speed bumps begin. At present there is a political deadlock in the country and the entire nation is at a standstill. Bangladesh has two main parties, the former ruling party Bangladesh National Party (BNP), and the former opposition party the Awami League (AL). Because of a conflict between the two parties (far to complex to explain in this little blog) that traces back many many many many years the two parties are each other’s sworn mortal enemies (literally).
The only thing the BNP and AL have agreed on is to disagree. But even if this agreement is constant, every time a disagreement occurs both parties seem equally surprised and without further dialogue take their business to the streets. In western classics and few other cliché movies two pissed off people look into one another’s eyes and say ‘I’ll meet you outside.’ The two of them go outside and do –what ever it is they do- and business is settled. Now imagine that Clint Eastwood and Kris Kristofferson say “I’ll meet you outside.” Then imagine that the two of them go home and the rest of the bar goes out and fight. Then imagine that Clint Eastwood and Kris Kristofferson were not at all in the bar (in fact they have not met in over ten years), and only communicated through articles in the press. Now imagine that the people who go out and fight are not thirty drunken people, but over millions (of non-drunken) people combating each other over grudges dating back far too many years.
To be continued...
