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Bangladesh will remember 2009 for two very distinct events – a mutiny that shook the nation at the start of the year and a milestone verdict towards the end of the year that brought long-awaited legal closure on a dark episode of history.
The shocking BDR massacre threatened to destabilise the nascent government in February, while November's landmark judgment by the Supreme Court finally offered the nation a sense of justice 34 long years after the 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nation's founding leader.
A year that saw Bangladesh restore an elected government, after two years of emergency, ran high with expectations as Awami League and its partners, sweeping into power with an absolute majority, took the reins of government in January. But 2009 has faced its own democratic challenges, not least of which is the opposition's continuing parliamentary boycott that looks set to continue well into 2010.
While opposition boycotts are nothing new in Bangladesh, however, the new government faced an exceptional crisis less than two months into power, when border guards in an armed rebellion took over the force's Peelkhana headquarters in the heart of the capital, killing over 50 army officers and holding thousands of families hostage inside the compound for two heart-stopping days.
The unprecedented event concerning the military had a chilling effect on the country's fragile democracy with fear running high that the mutiny would spread and run out of control.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her government were praised for bringing the lethal situation under control, though Hasina personally faced an uncomfortable session at the cantonment immediately after the mutiny when troubled army officers hurled verbal abuse during a closed-door meeting.
The 70,000-strong border force is now getting a major overhaul, with a new law, new organisational structure and a new name in an effort to revive its image and erase the taint of the bloody mutiny. But speculation looks set to linger into 2010 and well beyond over the 'hidden powers' behind the bloody episode.
Meanwhile, trial of the rebellious border guards, of whom over 3,000 stand accused, began within the year after complex legal procedures to deem what the trial process should be.
The biggest judicial event of the year, meanwhile, was the final judgement on the tortuous appeals process in the Bangabandhu murder case. The Supreme Court in a long-awaited judgment on Nov 19 upheld death sentences of 12 former army officers, who were involved in assassination of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on August 15, 1975.
Bangladesh is likely to see the execution of five of the killers in the New Year, drawing a curtain on a tragic chapter.
CHALLENGES TO DEMOCRACY
Also looking ahead to the new year, the government faces a daunting task in the functioning of democracy in a country where parties practise it little internally and the party in opposition is routinely uncooperative, with a perennial tradition of 'boycotting parliament'.
This time round too, the opposition has been absent from parliament, initially protesting lower than expected allocation of seats in the front row of the house. The AL has also done the same in the past when BNP was in power.
The ruling party this year has offered BNP more front row seats, however, to lure the boycotting party back into the House. But BNP leaders after almost a year of abstention are claiming that what began as a seating dispute is now not the only issue.
As the year wore on, they cited "oppression" and "harassment" by the Awami league-led government as the main bars to joining parliament. With such comments echoing in the last week of the old year, it doesn't look like the opposition will be seen in the seat of democracy any time soon.
Regarding the ninth parliament's one-year performance, the speaker has claimed that it was "not dysfunctional" without the opposition, but BNP's participation would make parliament sessions more "lively".
Similar challenges to democracy have been evident in the national councils of major political parties, held this year after more than a decade in some cases. The councils are both a success story for the Election Commission, which revised electoral laws last year to make them mandatory for passage of party constitutions, and a disappointment for the electorate.
It is widely believed that the parties have failed to practise internal democracy with regard to participation in their national councils, passage and practice of their newly drafted constitutions or in choosing the top leaderships. The two main parties have rather dumped perceived 'troublemakers' through their councils and done the bare minimum to pass paper constitutions now required by law.
LOOKING OUTWARD
Looking outward from the heated confines of party politics in Bangladesh, the incumbent government is looking to shore up relations with the country's big neighbour India in a crucial meeting in the New Year. Hasina plans a trip to New Delhi in January.
The issues for talks with her Indian counterpart include a long-pending deal on sharing of the flows of the common rivers, including the Teesta, and a newly emergent issue this year – the Tipaimukh Dam, which has become a cause for environmental concern in downstream Bangladesh.
Bangladesh will also have to tread cautiously in dealing with India's road transit demands to transport merchandise and equipment to its northeastern states. However, good signs are also there regarding strengthening of relations on the economic front, especially with these states.
The two countries also look committed to collaborating on combating cross-border crimes, which has helped New Delhi too in making serious dent in separatist movement in some bordering states. Dhaka risks creating new enemies in the process. Against this backdrop, Hasina, who is expected to get a warm welcome by the Indian leadership, can exploit the opportunity to advance Bangladesh's interests.
CLIMATE AND CALAMITIES
Meanwhile, the country--and the world--looks to the New Year for follow up on one of the major global events of 2009 that directly impacts Bangladesh. Hasina, with over 100 world leaders, attended what was billed as a 'historic' climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
But people of Bangladesh and across the world were disappointed with the final outcome of the much-touted talks. There was no firm commitment for funding or legally binding reduction of carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.
On May 25 this year, cyclone Aila battered the southern coast of the country killing 190 people and rendering thousands homeless. The people there are still reeling from the traumatic aftermath. Nearly seven months on, many of the Aila victims have no means to rebuild theIr homes and start income generation activities. Financial assistance has not poured into the affected areas adequately to give adequate solace to the victims.
The country's coastal areas remain vulnerable as before, rather things have worsened in the year, which saw indiscriminate felling of trees. This has added to the growing threat of climate change and sea level rises due to global warming. Bangladesh and the rest of the world look to world leaders in 2010 to back up the climate change rhetoric of 2009 with firm action.
Source: bdnews24.com
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