Students, photographers, civil society under arrest - The chaos that is becoming Bangladesh
Acclaimed historian Ayesha Jalal in her book, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia, argues that due to the huge socio-economic inequalities and inherited unresponsive colonial bureaucracy, non-elected institutions triumphs over the elected power centres for most citizens in South Asia.
Elections are thus treated like rituals and they only put together elements of "formal democracy and covert authoritarianism". The arrest of eminent Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam on August 5 by 25 detective branch officers in Dhaka has brought this tension between the ideals of democratic functioning and the authoritarian intent of the Sheikh Hasina government to the forefront. However, in this case the covert has become overt.
The recent wave of protests in Bangladesh started with the killing of two students by a privately operated speeding bus on the roads of Dhaka on July 29. Immediately, a large-scale student movement for road safety began in the Bangladesh capital and soon spread to other cities in the country with a charter of nine demands. Road collision and resultant deaths are not uncommon in South Asian countries, including Bangladesh. But surprisingly, even a seemingly apolitical demand of road safety from students has sent the Hasina government in a tizzy in a country where, according to the World Health Organisation, 20,000 fatal road accidents happen every year.
In the initial days of the protest, despite government warning, students in their school uniforms raised checkpoints and started to inspect driving licences of all drivers and riders. They also ensured vehicles stuck to their respective emergency lanes.
It irked many officials in the country but protesters received widespread praise from many citizens for their peaceful movement demanding safe roads. A Dhaka Tribune editorial said, "At this moment, we are witnessing something unprecedented in the history of our transport and infrastructure: Our roads are starting to function in a proper and efficient manner… And the credit for this goes to all the students".
The Hasina government was in no mood to give in to the demands of the teenage protesters and initiated a brutal crackdown not only by police officials but also by the armed student wing of the ruling party.
The attack on students and videos of armed men brutally thrashing photojournalists went viral on social media and received condemnation worldwide, including a United Nations statement condemning the crackdown.
It is at this juncture that prominent photojournalist Shahidul Alam gave an interview to Al-Jazeera and exposed the larger dimensions of the protest to the world media. He was picked up by the police hours after the interview was broadcast.
The next day, Alam was charged under Section 57 of the Bangladesh's Information Commission Technology Act, a draconian law through which the government has threatened many other human rights defenders, bloggers, and media representatives for criticising authorities in the past.
Many believe it was only because the case was in the limelight that Alam was produced before a court else many other activists and political opponents are known to have become victims of enforced disappearances.
Why did the Bangladeshi government come down so heavily on Alam?
One obvious reason is that the government wants to send out a message to the urban elite to remain silent on the functioning of the government. But according to some human rights activists, Alam's main offence was that he exposed the diminished credibility of the Hasina government in front of the world media.
When the interviewer in Al-Jazeera asked him if the protests are only about road safety, Alam said that demonstrators are motivated by larger factors and not the demand for safer roads alone.
He pointed to "the looting of the banks and the gag on the media", widespread "extrajudicial killings, disappearances, bribery and corruption" as the main reasons for the growing public anger and disillusionment with the Hasina government.
Alam told the interviewer that the present government "lacks the mandate to rule" as most of the MPs of the ruling Awami League were elected unopposed because opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) refused to take part in the 2014 elections and therefore the government "has been clinging to power by brute force".
He expressed apprehensions of a possible rigging in the upcoming general election, a fear many Bangladeshi citizens cannot express in public.
He said, "They know that if there is a fair and free election, they will lose. But they haven't got an exit plan [and] as they have misruled for so long so that if they do lose, they will be torn apart. So, they have to hang on by any means so that is exactly what they are doing. They are clinging on using the entire might of the system plus the armed goons at their disposal."
Awami League, a 'secular' political party in a Muslim majority country with friendly ties with India and strong backing of other western governments in the aftermath of the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and goodwill gestures showed by Hasina government has little to fear from outside world in the form of sanctions or other punitive measures.
BNP with its ties to Jamat, the party allegedly responsible for the 1971 genocide remains a second choice for many people who are worried about an Islamist takeover of the country.
But the Hasina government seems to have crossed the line this time and people are accusing her of misusing institutions and weakening democracy.
The arrest of Alam and crackdown on student protesters have exposed the authoritarian streak in Awami League leaders. The party must know that a rule by force cannot go on forever.
Everything has an expiry date and in case of authoritarian governments the end can come sooner than expected as pages of history tell us.