Dhaka / New Delhi (TIP) : Imagine government employees at South and North Block in New Delhi suddenly going on strike, workers in all tax departments downing pens and primary teachers picketing schools across the country – and all this at the same time. Imagine the Army telling the government that it doesn’t like some of its policies. Imagine inflation soaring, Foreign Direct Investments vanishing, mobs roaming the street and the courts letting jailed criminals sentenced to death go scot-free.
Something close to this dystopia is now unfolding in Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate heading an interim government in Dhaka since the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina nine months ago, has been quoted describing the situation in the country as “war-like”. He has been blaming much of the country’s troubles on the Awami League, the Sheikh Hasina-led party banned on May 12, and on the foreign hand trope, in this case, a “hegemonistic” India.
Before Bangladesh shuts down for a 10-day holiday next week to mark Eid al-Adha, a mega rally on Wednesday in Dhaka called by the Awami League’s rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and easily the biggest political party in that country today, pumped up the political temperatures to boiling point. On the same day, Yunus left for Japan on a four-day visit. Anything could happen.
Last week, what happened was an Army coup without a coup. The chief of Army Staff General Waqar ul Zaman was quoted in WhatsApp messages that went viral worldwide as having served an ultimatum to the Yunus-led dispensation that elections must be held this December so that Bangladesh has a brand-new democratically elected government on New Year’s Day 2026.
The debate over when elections should be held is split between those who want reforms to the poll process first and then elections and those who want elections first and insist reforms can wait. The biggest political party BNP wants polls by December, but Yunus had promised polls only by June 2026. This is a position backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizens’ Party (NCP) who want polls only after full electoral reforms, even if it takes a full five years.
The Army on Monday denied General Zaman had issued any ultimatum in his address to officers in Dhaka and the fact is there is no audio or video recording of his statement. But few doubt the veracity of a flood of WhatsApp messages that emerged after the General’s meeting and went viral. (AFP)