If we want a return to democracy, what alternative is there to elections?

The elections have been caught up in a snarl, with one question making the rounds - which comes first, reforms or elections? The chief advisor has said that the "consensus" commission report has been sent to everyone and, based on that, dialogue will be held. The interim government will then carry out certain reforms. The remaining reforms will be carried out by the elected government. But the parties will have to pledge that they will implement these reforms.

Certain parties, BNP in particular, do not agree to this.  They repeatedly caution the government that unrest will increase in the country if the election is not held soon. This is akin to the riddle of which comes first, the chicken or the egg? A lot cannot be comprehended from within the government. But perusing the papers or social media, one would feel the country is in dire straits. There are movements everywhere, with fights, instigation, abuse and scuffles on a steady rise.

And now a new element has been added to this. Leaders of the newly formed National Citizen Party (NCP) say that law and order is on a steady decline and the situation is not conducive to elections. This has placed NCP more or less in confrontation with BNP. They may merrily munch "piazu" and "beguni" together at the iftar parties, but there is a storm visibly brewing ahead.

The police are there to maintain law and order.  After August the army was deployed and they are still there. They have been given magistracy powers. The army can take certain actions like the police. From a top level in the army, the troops have been told to proceed with caution. Public dealings are not easy. When using force, the situation can often get out of hand. The army doesn't want to take that risk. Then there are those who are used to seeing the police coming down hard on the people. They are asking why the army is so inactive. Why aren't they going into action?

The police have been inert since after the August uprising. We more or less know the reasons. Firstly, the actions of the police back then had been extremely cruel. When they could have brought situations under control using their batons or making arrests, they opened fire at point blank range, killing people indiscriminately. This enraged the students and the general people. Their trust in the police was at a nadir.

Secondly, after the uprising the fuming public attacked and set on fire many police stations in various places of the country. Many members of the police were killed. It is only natural that the police are on the back foot. Their morale has been hit hard. They cannot take action like before. It is true that the police don't do anything automatically. They are run and controlled by the government. Then there are the members of the police who go to the extreme, carrying out despicable actions in order to please the government.

Thirdly, there have been a lot of transfers among the police after the August uprising. This is ongoing now too. It takes time to get back into the rhythm. The army chief has clearly enunciated that they are not a substitute to the police. It is not possible to do the work of 200,000 members of the police by deploying 30,000 troops. The question is, how much time will it take for the police to earn the capacity to carry out their duties fully? It is hard to tell at the moment.

Recently, demonstrators protesting against rape came into confrontation with the police as they were marching towards the chief advisor's office. The demonstrators were well aware that they would not be able to go there. The police's duty was to block them at a certain point. That led to a scuffle. At first the photos of the incident seemed to show police of the autocrats! Then after seeing the entire video, the question arose as to whether the blame could entirely be placed on the police.

A police officer was seen pulling a woman by the hair. Terrible! Then we saw he was assaulted first. I recalled that scene where a police officer had beaten up the opposition chief whip Zainul Abedin Faruk in front of the parliament building. At first Faruk had verbally abused him. We often read news and see videos of government officials, police and even party activists being assaulted by members of parliament. People then feel that politics is no place for decent people. One has to be rough and tough in politics, it's all about muscle.

When attacked or verbally abused, the police often lose control of their tempers. But the police are a trained force and are not expected to react like the crowd. Their training manuals surely do not call for women to be dragged by the hair. They have to keep their cool when going into action. They are paid to do their duty, not to resort to hooliganism. This calls for a degree of refinement, education and sensitivity.

Family upbringing is very important. This must be kept in mind at all times when confronting women. Those who have not had a healthy childhood environment, who have seen their fathers hurling unspeakable abuse at their mothers, beating their mothers, themselves unconsciously nurture such behaviour. They misbehave when they see women, attack them. Such people are rampant on Facebook. It is hard to emerge from this, but not impossible.

We go into a frenzied mode when the elections come along. There are meetings, processions and slogans round the clock. The public servants fight among themselves. Once, way back, I heard the BNP leader Maj (retd) Akhteruzzaman say, elections mean choosing one thief from among five.
We see criminals and top terrors getting nominated. The parties bring them back time and again. Then there is the play of money and muscle. Hopefully we will be able to break away from all that this time. I have a desperate hope that they will look back and this time select persons with clean reputations as their candidates. If not, the situation will simply be like before, from the frying pan to the fire. Such fears pop up every time the election comes around.

As I was saying, one cannot say anything with certainty about the law and order situation and the capacity of the police. There has to be a minimum proper environment for the election where men and women will be able to vote unobstructed. The NCP leader was perhaps hinting at this. Some smell a rat in these words, feeling that the elections may remain suspended indefinitely.

There is no alternative to the election in order to progress to democracy. At the moment we are not thinking about a regimented government as in China. We are talking about a multi-party parliamentary system of government where the political parties will compete against each other. Democracy will never return to the country and the people will never gather interest in the election for as long as we have the mindset that we are the only patriots, those opposed to us are all conspirators and enemies of the state, our party must win or the country will be destroyed.

Many among those who will come to us, seeking our votes, have kept their families overseas. They do not have confidence in Bangladesh. This is their second home. The parties must take all this into account when selecting their candidates. Everyone must unitedly endeavour to create such a favourable environment. The prevailing situation is unwarranted and we want stability. There can be no investment in an agitated society. If there is no investment, there is no employment. Like many others, I also feel that an opportunity has risen up again in front of us. We must not lose this opportunity by falling prey to opportunists.    

*Mohiuddin Ahmad is a writer and researcher
*This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir