With Hasina having fled the country to seek refuge in India and probably seeing very little prospect of ever going back there, her trial itself means very little
As Bangladesh plays the ancient game of going after a fallen leader in committing former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and two of her aides to a mass murder trial and crimes against humanity, the country is gasping to get its economy going again after the tumultuous events of August 2024. With Hasina having fled the country to seek refuge in India and probably seeing very little prospect of ever going back there, her trial itself means very little.
Bangladesh might see Sheikh Hasina as a Mary, Queen of Scots, but her story and her present status have little to do with the situation the country finds itself in after her exit. A government that lacks legitimacy in being led by an adviser parachuted in to take interim charge appears to have little control over the reigning chaos as different sections of people like students and government servants are up in arms even as differences between Muhammad Yunus and the Army are out in the open.
The chief adviser’s threat to resign was seen as a mere political drama as the Army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, conveyed the message that hanging on to power is not a long-term option. Far from concentrating on law and order issues and trying to bring peace to a politically torn country, the adviser has been playing politics in proposing to open a humanitarian corridor to Myanmar’s rife-torn Rakhine State.
The chief adviser has been drawing comparisons to Nero as Bangladesh slides into further discord with the students backing him trying to buy time to get their act together as a political party. Ironically, Yunus has also been compared to US President Donald Trump as permits and tax exemptions have been granted to the Grameen group of organisations that he founded when he was a banker for the poor.
Yunus’ greatest fault is in seeking more time in his post as he drags his feet on declaring elections which alone can bring a democratic solution to the crisis if, of course, they are held in a fair and free manner and in an all-inclusive way rather than favouring one section of people or political factions. And the mobs must be reined in before the polls.
