If the main opposition boycotts the next general election, the election can be delayed, observes The Economist, a London-based weekly. In an article posted on its online edition on Friday, it also said the Peelkhana carnage verdict could give Sheikh Hasina a much-needed boost, because the conviction of the mutineers will bolster her position with the army. Excerpts: As an early test for the government of Sheikh Hasina, the new prime minister, it was brutal. In February 2009, less than two months after she took office, a bloody mutiny broke out at the headquarters of (what was then called) the Bangladesh Rifles, a paramilitary organisation in charge of border security. Men turned on officers and their families with murderous rage: 74 were killed, their bodies dumped in sewers and makeshift graves.
The new prime minister chose to negotiate with the mutineers rather than send in regular soldiers. By doing so she almost certainly avoided further massacres, though she risked the fury of some who were set on vengeance. But the decision to negotiate rested on a promise that those responsible would be arrested and punished. Nearly five years later and barely two months before the country’s general election, a criminal court on November 5th handed down verdicts on the mutineers at the end of a high-profile trial.
No court in Bangladesh meets international standards, and rights groups point to deep flaws with the trial. A total of 847 defendants were tried, en masse, and 152 sentenced to hang. Hundreds face long jail terms, including civilians convicted of conspiracy. There is unlikely to have been due process in the courts, and at least 70 suspects died while in custody—almost certainly murdered.
The reason for the original mutiny appears simple. Poorly paid and ill-treated foot soldiers in the paramilitary body despised and envied the more cosseted officers, who were drawn from the regular army. One particular resentment was that paramilitary soldiers could not serve lucrative spells as UN peacekeepers, unlike their army counterparts.
The executions are unlikely to take place before the general election, expected early in January. The appeals process will take months. But the verdicts could give Sheikh Hasina a much-needed boost, because the conviction of the mutineers will bolster her position with the army.
The verdicts also come as opinion polls show that the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, is far more popular than Sheikh Hasina’s own Awami League. Polls suggest support, too, for an independent caretaker government to run the election, to guard against vote-rigging. Sheikh Hasina has refused that, perhaps hoping to provoke a BNP boycott of the poll.
If a boycott takes place, then elections could be delayed and street violence is likely in the next few months. If so, the army, which also has the job of providing security at polling stations, would play a decisive political role. Sheikh Hasina has no interest in alienating it.
-With The Independent input
