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Bangladesh at Ten: An Appraisal of a Decade of Political DevelopmentAuthor(s): Craig BaxterReviewed work(s):Source: The World Today, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Feb., 1982), pp. 73-80Published by: Royal Institute of International AffairsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40395362 .

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Bangladesh at ten: an appraisal of adecade of political development

CRAIG BAXTER

ThedescriptionfBangladeshn ts arliestays s an internationalasketcase'vividlyxpressedhe revailingoubts bout tsviability.erhaps ow tcan becomparedoamanndeepwater,ustbarelyble okeephisheadupandfearing

the rrival f a wavewhich ouldoverwhelmim.He needs lifepreserverassistanceromxternalources and,withhis,f he urrentsarry im owardsthe hore, emay ventuallytand n solidground.llcurrents,nwanted avesinthe hape fnaturalisastersrman-madeoliticalreconomicalamitiesrbothwill ead ocatastrophe.angladeshppears ohave urvivedheman-madecalamityfMay1981 y astNovember'seacefullection fAbdus attarsthesuccessorothemurderedresidentiaurRahman.

Bangladeshsnow en ears ld. tsbirth asdifficult,omingfter civilwar,itselfollowinghemost evastatingatural isasterf he entury.1he iabilitieslending alidityo the arly cepticismbout tspotentialor urvivalre wellknown,ut s Bangladesh

egants xistences a nation-state,herewere lso

assets. ot heeast f hesewere n ntenseense fnationalommunityndtheuse ofa single ationalanguage,nique mong hecountriesf SouthAsiawhichmergedrom ritisholonialism.

Thesense f nationalismn so far s itwaspersonifiedySheikhMujiburRahman nd nstitutionalizedntheAwami eaguewas soondissipated. is-managementf he olitical,conomicnd ocial ystemsf he ountryndthelossof egitimacyhis reatededto the equencesfthe ar oo familiaratternofrepressionndthe tiflingf criticismnd nitiative,pathwhich recludespeacefulhange ndends n theuse ofviolentmeans. angladesh asperhapsfortunaten that heoverthrowfMujibandhisone-partytate ventually,

followingurtherurmoil,hrewpa regimender iaurRahmanwhich, hilenota modeloftextbookemocracyndhigh fficiency,ecamevastlymoreliberalnd ignificantlyore oal-orientatedhan he ystemthadreplaced.

As the enthnniversaryakes lace, t susefulo ist ertainspects ftheinternalnd xternalactorsn he evelopmentfBangladesh,o dentifyhangesduringhe ecade nd o eek ossiblerendsor he uture.

Bureaucrats and soldiersThebureaucracys anessentiallementnstate uilding.While hepoliticians

can,orshould, e motivatorsf hangeonsonant ithhewishesf he eople,1Forgeneral ackground,ee W. Klatt, The ndian ubcontinentfter hewar',TheWorld

Today,March1972, nd WilliamJ.Barnds,The Indiansubcontinent: ewand old politicalimperatives',bid.,January973.

Mr Baxter, former merican oreignServiceOfficer,s Visiting rofessor f PoliticalScience t Juniata ollege,Huntingdon,ennsylvania.

73

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74 THE WORLD TODAY February 982it is thebureaucracywhich bothprovidescontinuitynd implements oliticaldecisions.Bangladeshwasnotnearly o deficientnexperienceddministratorsssome have assumedfrom heoveralldisparityprincipallyconomic ndmilitary)between ast and West Pakistan. At the CivilService of Pakistan CSP) level,equality n numbers etween hetwowingswas being pproached. n the PoliceService f Pakistan PSP), too,theEast Pakistan hare was increasing. he pro-vincial ivil ervicewas,bydefinition,rawnfrom heEastWing, lthough omeof thememberswere from mongtheUrdu-speakingminority roupgenerallydescribed s 'Biharis' nd often ostile o the oncept f a free angladesh.

A shortage f trained nd experienced ersonnel o man seniorpositionswasnot in itself problem.However,thepoliticalrequirementsf thenewMujibregime erved o eliminatemanypotential fficers. hose whohad defected ndjoined the exilegroupwerequickly ssignedduties n the ndependent overn-ment. Others who had remained t theirpostswere less welcomeand some,accused ofcollaborationwithPakistan,weredeniedposts.Still otherswere nWestPakistan nd often nternedrrelieved rom uty uring he ivilwar ndontheirventual epatriationrequentlyound nambivalenteception.tseems learthat hemotivated olitical creening ytheMujibgovernmenteprived angla-desh ofmuch administrativealent, nd thatoften n flimsy roundsresultingfrom ersonalvendettasgainstofficers ho felt hatremainingt a postmight

alleviate he ufferingf the ivilianpopulation.As theMujib periodended and after shortperiodofreverse ctionagainst

officers eemedto have been too close to Mujib, Bangladeshhas in placemanysenior fficers ithhigh kills ndmotivation. he samecannotbesaid,however,for he ower evelsofadministration.he provincial ivil ervicewas nothighlyregarded efore1971 and itsperformanceincethenhas done little o improvethis image. Training nstitutions,speciallythose formiddle-leveln-servicecourses,had beendisrupted ythe ivilwarandonlynowarebeingbrought ackto thepre-independencetandardwiththeassistanceof the World Bank andothers.Gaps inthe taffingatternsftenwerefilled uring heMujibperiodbypolitically cceptable personswithoutexamination nd occasionallywithout

skills. The creationof a unified erviceout of theseveralelementswhichhadexistedndependentlyith acanciesfilled y xaminationsa step owardgreatermobility nd efficiency;he development f better raining acilities nd the

instillingf a higher ense ofdisciplinemustfollow.However, orruption eemsno lessendemicnowthan t was in thepast.

Members fthemilitaryave beenresponsible or hemurder ftwoPresidentsandhave been nvolvedn other oup actions.Bangladeshhasbeenundermartiallaw for bout one-thirdf ts ife nd sincethe iftingfmartial aw concurrentwith he 1979parliamentarylection,majorroleshave continued obeplayedbypresentr formermilitary en. t seemsunlikelyhat tany imen thenearfuture

thepotentialmportancef themilitarynpoliticswilldiminish,lthoughattar

stated learly t his nductionntooffice hat heonlyrolehesaw for hemilitarywas thedefence fthenation.

General H. M. Ershad,Zia's successoras Chiefof theArmyStaff, ad in

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BANGLADESH 75privateproposed a constitutional oleforthemilitary,itingTurkey s an ex-ample,but his viewswererebuffedySattar.However,on 1January 982, attarannounced heformation fa National Security ouncil whichwouldbe headedbyhimselfwhois hisownMinister fDefence) and includetheVice-President,thePrimeMinister,heMinisters fForeignAffairs, omeAffairs,inance andIndustrynd the hreeChiefs fStaff fthearmedservices.The Council would'advise and assist' hegovernmentnmattersfforeign olicy,defence, conomicdevelopmentndinternalaw and order.At thetimeofwriting,eliablereportsindicate that Ershad is not fully atisfiedwith hismeansof ncorporatinghe

militarynto thepolicyprocess.The armedforces re about 90,000 strong ncluding he threeservicesbutexcluding ara-militaryroups.Their senior nd middle-level fficersre drawnfromthePakistanmilitary, ut are distinguishedy one or the otherof twocharacteristics:freedom ighter'r returnee'. hemajority f those ctive n theArmy odaywere n East Pakistan n 1971and manywereable to defect romPakistanArmyunits nd to oin thegroupswhichfought gainstPakistan.Ziahimself asamong hese nd onhisdefection as able toholda portion f Chitta-gong long enoughto declaretheindependence f Bangladeshon theradio on27 March1971.After considerable elay,Pakistan, s theresult fagreementsamong ndia,Bangladesh nd Pakistan, eturnedmilitarynd civilianpersonnel

whohadbeen nterned. ftercreeningn1974, heMujib governmenteluctantlyassimilated hereturneesnto theBangladeshi ervices t ranks consistentwithservice.

The divisionbetween freedom ighters'?:d returnees'was but one problemduring heMujib period.Mujibdistrustedheprofessionaloldiers nd creatednewarmedorganization,he RakkhiBahini,which erved s a parallelandrivalgrouppledged oMujibrather han othenation t large.Thedownfall fMujibwas followedmmediately ythedisbanding ftheRakkhiBahiniand another,althoughessdivisive, creeningndmergingfthe rmedforces.

The division betweenfreedomfighter'nd 'returnee' emainsone which stroublesome o the ountry,ts tabilityndthat fthe rmedforces. he presentchief fthearmy taffs a 'returnee' hosenbothbecause of hisevidentmilitarycompetencend toavoidtheneedtochoose from mong freedom ighters'.hepersonal ffrontelt yGeneralManzur, 'returnee',t the hoiceof one whohadnotfoughtn thecivilwar was a majorfactor n thecoup attemptedbyManzurwhich esultednZia's murder. he loyalty f theChief fStaff nd other fficersandthe nlistedmenwillbecritical o the ontinued evelopmentfconstitutionaland civilianrule. t has beenreported hatthePresident's tatement n theroleof themilitary as notreceivedwith ull nd unanimous upportbysomein thearmedforceswhoforesee constitutional lace fortheservices.

As the ong-rangemportance f themilitarysclear, teps owardhigher ro-fessionalism re

needed.Assistancefrom the United States and the United

Kingdom ntraining as been effective.quipment s badlyout of date despitesome additionalsupplies muchfromChina) and more willbe needed,furthertaxing heveryimited esources fthe ountry.

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76 THE WORLD TODAY February982The political parties

Political artiesnEastPakistan ndBangladeshavemore ften een ingle-issuemovementshan artiesn the nstitutionalense. hefourwhich avewonlegislativelections,heMuslim eague1946), heUnited rontKrishakramikPartyndAwami eague, 954), heAwami eague 1970, 973) ndtheBangla-deshNationalistarty1979)have ll won argemajoritiesn he ssemblies.achwas edby charismaticersonality,rpledgedoa singlessue, rboth. espitethe xistencef manifestoshesehave often eendiscarded. he events fthe1947-70 eriod lienated heprovince hich ad votedmost eavilyn British

India or he akistanmovementn1946. n1954,heKSPand heAwami eaguecombinedn hemis-namednited rontitfellpart lmostssoon sthe esultswere n.AstheMuslim eaguehadcampaignedn1946 gainst indu omina-tion, heUnited ront ampaignedgainstWest akistani ominationn 1954.The1970 lectionawtheAwami eague edbyMujib weep he olls n a plat-form fprovincialutonomy,ransformednto an independence ovementfollowinghe akistan rmyrackdownnMarch 971However,or heonger-range olitical evelopmentftheBangladeshhatwas tobe, t simportantorecognizehat he ssuewas inglendthe eaderharismatic;hemanifestof heAwami eaguewasof ittlenterestoall but fewwhovoted orMujib irstndthe artyecond.

Afterndependence,heMujib regime roscribedartieswhichhad, n itsopinion,upportedakistan rwhichdvocatedn slamicdeology.n the otingfor arliamentn1973with hese artiesxcluded,lthoughnthe ircumstancesprevailingtprobably ade ittle ifferencenthe esult,heAwami eague gainswept hepoll.As the economicnd securityonditions ithinhecountrydeteriorated,artly,t least, s a result fmismanagementyMujibandhisassociates,heeader urtailedoliticalibertiesnd nstituted,hroughonstitu-tionalmendment,presidential,ne-partyystem.

The ftermathf he oupof15August975,nwhichMujibwas ssassinated,andthe wo oupsofNovemberf the ameyearwas a martialawregimenwhich iaurRahman ecame hedominantigure.2ia stroveolegitimizeis

governmentirst ith plebisciten1977 ndthenwith contestedresidentialelectionn 1978 andparliamentaryolls n 1979.3 o supporthe atterwoelectionshe NP wasformed,lthoughtwasmore arrowndunder differentnamen1978. hekey othe iscussionere, owever,sthat he NPwasformedto support specificandidateand, n 1979,hishandpickedssociates)ndaparticularrogramme,he 9pointsor he olitical,conomicnd ocial evelop-ment fBangladesh.heBNPwas, s all tspredecessorsadbeen, movementandnot norganized olitical arty.ts uccessfulupportfSattarn 1981 oesnot n tselflter his iew; s several avenoted,he1981 lection as nmanyrespectscontest etweenwodeadmenMujib ndZia.

There rethreemportantroupswhich recalledpolitical artiesnBangla-2See StephenOren,AfterheBangladesh oups', bid.,January976.

3For additional nformationn the 1978and 1979 elections nd comparative ata fromearlierpolls,see CraigBaxter nd M. Rashiduzzaman,Bangladeshvotes: 1978and 1979%Asian urvey, ol.XXI,No. 4 April 98 ).

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BANGLADESH 77desh longwith score rmore fothers hichompetedn1979 r1981.Thethreemajor odies,heBNP,theAwami eague ndtheMuslim eague out nthe pen ince he iberalizationollowing ujib's all), hare t east woprob-lems:none erves he oleofaggregationfdemandsnd nonehasan effectiveand asting rganization.heAwami eague ndtheMuslim eague, econd ndthirdespectivelynthe 979 oting,lso sufferrom he actionalismhichs somuch part fBengalioliticalifendwith hichhe NPcouldnow e fflicted.TheAwami eague ndtheBNP each ttemptedopaper ver actional ifficul-ties y greeingna relativelyneutral'andidaten 1981KamalHossainwas he

Awami eaguenominee).TheBNP, ike heAwami eague ut or ifferenteasons, asunpreparedoran election; henext ne tenvisaged asthere-electionf Ziaur Rahmann1983. hefailureo usethe ime ince 978 o build norganizationt ocal evelwith epresentativeiersisingothenationalevel, oupledwithhe bsence fclearlydentifiedolitical eputyoZia, led theBNP tobuy ime hroughhenominationfSattar,whohadbeen ppointed ia's Vice-Presidentnder heBangladeshionstitutionalrrangement.ith he uccess fSattar,who at 76hasdemonstratedemarkableoliticalkill ndgreatertamina hanwascon-templated,heBNPmustmove owardshe electionfa follow-onandidate.Theappointmentf henon-politicalut alentedconomist irzaNurulHuda

doesnot eem omeet he olitical equirement.Therereother roupsalled artiesn the cene. herevival f he onserva-tive slamic arties as caused oncern o those avouringmore ecular tate(even s modifiedyZia, seebelow), ut heprincipal eligiousandidatewastrouncednthepresidentiallection.heradicalJatiyoamajtantrikal (JSD)attractsmore nterestrom verseas cholars,ournalistsnd humanrightsadvocateshantdoesfromheBangladeshilectorate.heLeft,nce omewhatunited nderhe eadershipfthe ateMaulanaAbdulHamidKhanBhashani,hasdivided ndredividednto o many plinterroups hat t is no longernational orcen electoralolitics,lthoughhedangerfextra-legalctions ytheLeft r theJSDremains.4

The constitutional systemTheoperationfthe hree rincipalctors,hebureaucracy,hemilitarynd

the oliticians,nthe oliticalystemfBangladeshastaken laceunder everalconstitutionalystems.angladesh oved ery uicklyoadopt Constitutionin1972.tset pa parliamentaryorm nder document odelledargelynthatof ndia.The Awami eague,with lmost veryeat nParliament,ormedhegovernmentndMujib teppedown rom is emporaryresidencyobecomePrimeMinister.salreadymentioned,olitical,conomicnd social onditionsin he ew ountryeteriorateduring 73Mujib, espitenew nd quallyarge

mandatenthe lectionnthat ear,nstitutedncreasinglyepressiveontrolsnbasicfreedoms.hisculminatedna constitutionaleform hich stablished

4TalukderManiruzzaman,heBangladesh evolutionnd tsAftermathDacca: BangladeshBooksInternational,980) ontains escriptionsfeachoftheparties ftheLeft.

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78 THE WORLD TODAY February 982presidencywithMujib as Presidentwhichwas all butunchallengeablehroughpeacefulpolitical processes. t also setup theone-party ystem. issatisfactionwith heregimewas innoway essenednor wasperformancemproved. aw andorderdeteriorated urther; ood shortagesmultiplied; orruptionwas theonlysector f theeconomyon theupswing.

The coup of 15 August 1975 brought n MushtaqueAhmad, a Minister nMujib's Cabinet,who becamePresidentwith hepromise o hold new electionsand return o parliamentary overnment.Mushtaque fell from office n theNovember oups.

Zia, whoquickly merged s theprincipal iguren thesuccessorgovernmentalthough heformer hiefJusticectuallyheld theoffice fPresident,nheritedthemodified 972Constitution. e further odifiedt. The singleparty ad beenscrappedbyMushtaque.Zia eventuallyllowedthe renewalofpolitical ctivityand theoperation fpoliticalparties ndremoved he ban on suchparties s theMuslimLeague.He didnotrestore heparliamentaryormnd retained heofficeof a nowdirectlylectedPresidentMujib had been electedby Parliament) s theprimaryource ofpower.The limited ole ofParliament,nthat t doesnot havecontrol ver theCabinet, sroughly omparable o thatofFranceor Sri Lanka.Dismantling fmartial aw following he 1979parliamentarylection martiallaw had been modifiedeveral imes arlier)returned angladeshto a constitu-

tionalregime ased on the 1972 Basic Law with he hangesmentioned.The 1972document lso enshrinedhe fourpillars'of Mujib-bad': national-

ism,democracy,ocialism nd secularism.While hepresent ystem upports ullythefirstwo, here ave beenchanges nthe atter wo. Thepresent overnmentsmuchmorefavourably isposedtowardsprivatenvestment,ncluding hatfromoverseas,nd has to a certain egree eversed he ocialist rientationftheMujibera. More important as been a change n the pillar'ofsecularism. ecularismsan important artof theplatformftheAwamiLeague; Mujib clearly dmiredthesecularprovisions f the ndian Constitution. ia, however,was putundersome pressurebyArab donors to Bangladeshi conomicdevelopmentnd feltcompelled o modify he Constitutiono the effect hatMuslims n Bangladeshwould be providedbythegovernment ith n opportunityo order heir ives naccordancewith the Quran and the Sharia. The step also appeased Muslimfundamentalists hosestrength as assessed,probably ncorrectly,s growing.It is interestinghat Zia called in representativesf theminoritiesheeveningbefore he announcementwas made to givethem ssurancesoftheir ontinuedfreedom. is assuranceswere pparentlyotfully ccepted s itappearsclearthatHindu voters upported isrival n 1978and theAwamiLeague in 1979.

InternationalfactorsBangladeshmustoperate n an internationalnvironment hichmeans,first,

its mmediate eighboursnSouth Asia. Relationswith ndia havenot been uni-formlyordial.Gratitude orndianassistancenthe ivilwarwassoondissipateddisagreementver the Farakka barrage5was but one ofthe causes of the disen-

5SeeK. P. Misra,TheFarakka ccord',TheWorld oday, ebruary 978.

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80 THE WORLD TODAY February 982for tudents ndergoingollege nduniversityducation oprimarynd vocationallevels, utbarely ne-third fthepotentialnrolments nclass, iteracyemainstabout25per ent nd demandfor rade killed ersonnels notmet.The astresults

partly romhe xport f killed ersonnel, practicewhichhelpsterms fforeignexchange arnings ut s detrimentalodevelopment.

The basic elementneconomicdevelopments theproduction f foodgrains,especially ice.A goal sharedbyZia andSattar sself-sufficiency.angladeshhasincreased ts erealproduction y little ver2per entduringtsfirstecade,with

higher iguresn the Zia periodoffsettingowernumbers arlier.A significant

proportion fthis 1•7 percent)has comefromncreasedyields nd a fraction(0# percent)from xpansionofthe rea under ultivation. ields,however, re

very ow,e.g.,about35percentofthose n South Korea. Despitethe ncrease nabsoluteproduction,hegrowthhas notkept pace with he rise in population.Imports f about 10percent of totalconsumptioneem ikely or ometime ocomedespite he oncertednd rather ffectiverogrammeo ncrease roduction.

Budgetary ifficultiesre endemicwith eficitsmounting. ne penaltymposedforthishas been thediscontinuancef InternationalMonetaryFund paymentswhile notherhas been nflationaryressures. iscal disciplinarymeasureshavebeenprescribed ythe MF, but mplementationsquestionable.

Insum,Bangladesh as shownpolitical esilience hich, odoubt,hassurprised

manywho did notthink t viable in 1971. It has bouncedback after wotragicassassinations f ts eaders,hasheld, ince1975, hree uccessfullections,ndis,barringmisfortune,n a pathtowards epresentativend participatoryovern-ment.Cloudingthehorizon rea difficultconomic cene, still apidly rowingpopulation,and althoughthe hope is that such fears are unfounded an

ambiguityn therole themilitaryees for tself.

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