Page 44 - The Economist

44 Asia The Economist December 9th 2017

Banyan Just one begum

ButunderSheikh Hasina, Bangladesh is growing more authoritarian
rique Rahman, cannot return from exile in London because of
corruption charges awaiting him in Bangladesh. When Sheikh
Hasina refused to give way to a caretaker government before the
general election of 2014, the BNP played into her hands by boy-
cotting the poll and encouraging violence. With no MPs in Parlia-
ment, Mrs Zia’s powers of patronage have ebbed, though she re-
tains rural support. With the government hounding her, she
seems a spent force.
The Awami League and its friends abroad, including the Indi-
an government of Narendra Modi, celebrate a new era. With the
metronome and the hartals a thing ofthe past, policymaking has
become more consistentand the investmentclimate more stable.
The government is building lots of power plants and roads. Eco-
nomic growth has averaged 6% a year for the past decade and is
forecast to canter on at almost 7% in the coming years. Some indi-
cators ofdevelopment, such as child mortality, are markedly bet-
ter than in India. Bangladesh is no longer a “basket case”, as Hen-
ry Kissingeronce declared.
Yet ifSheikh Hasina has abolished politics, it comes at a price.
Partisanship has been replaced by brutal infighting within the
ruling party itself. Corruption remains appalling. That allows
HE battling begums, Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Khaleda Zia, well-connected industries, such as the tanneries ofHazaribagh, a
Tused to alternate in power with metronomic regularity. Both residential area of Dhaka, to flout environmental laws, causing
laid claim to aspects of Bangladesh’s founding myth. Sheikh Ha- grave health problems forlocals.
sina isthe daughterofthe “fatherofBangladesh”, Sheikh Mujibur The press publishes little criticism ofSheikh Hasina or the AL.
Rahman, the firstpresident. MrsZia iswidowto ZiaurRahman, to Publications that step out of line are hounded. The editor of the
whom, as an army officer under Mujib, fell the honour of declar- Daily Star, the biggest English-language newspaper, has been
ing Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971. He may charged 84 times with defamation and other crimes. Draconian
have known ofthe coup that lead to Mujib’s death, in 1975. Either new laws on cyber-security threaten online media. It is even a
way, in the ensuing chaos, he rose to power before being mur- crime to debate the official version ofthe warofindependence.
dered by renegade officers himself in 1981. Both men grew dicta- The chief justice until recently, Surendra Kumar Sinha, was
torial in power, resorted to violence to settle scores and, in Zia’s one of the few still holding the government to account. In Octo-
case, embraced Islamism in an avowedly secular state. Yet the ber, while he wasoutofthe country, he wascharged with corrup-
memoryofeach isburnished bytheirrespective parties, nowrun tion and “moral turpitude”, among other things; under pressure,
as fiefs by the two begums: Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL) he resigned. Darker still is creeping state violence. Parts of the se-
and Mrs Zia’sBangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). curity services, such as the Rapid Action Battalion, a counter-ter-
Between 1991 and 2006 the metronome gave Mrs Zia two ror unit, act with near impunity. Since 2014 hundreds of opposi-
turnsin powerand Sheikh Hasina one, thanksin partto caretaker tion politicians, activists and journalists have been arrested or
governments installed before each election. This competition abducted—more than 80 this year alone. Many have ended up
helped avoid some of the worst abuses of power. Not before or dead. Meanwhile, the security services have failed to protect lib-
since has Bangladesh’s press been so vibrant and free. Yet it was eral and secular voices from violence by Islamist extremists, al-
no golden era. In opposition both the AL and the BNP did all they though a spate oflethal attacks in 2013-16 has slowed this year.
could to frustrate government, walking out of parliament and A general election is due by early 2019 at the latest. As it ap-
shuttingdown the economywith hartals, general strikes. In pow- proaches, the notion that pesky politics has been abolished will
er, both parties stucktheirsnouts in the trough—though the BNP’s look increasingly strained. Not least, deals of convenience that
second term in office was especially egregious. the AL has struck with unsavoury groups carry costs. In 2013 He-
fazat-e-Islam, a radical movement financed by doctrinaire Islam-
Smashing the metronome istsin Saudi Arabia, tookto the streetsto demand more piousgov-
When Sheikh Hasina came to powerforthe second time, in 2009, ernment. The authorities agreed to rewrite school textbooks and
she tooka more aggressive approach, goingafterherenemies and remove a statue of the Greek goddess of justice from in front of
settling scores, some of which dated back to the war of indepen- the Supreme Court. Extremist groups may feel emboldened un-
dence from Pakistan. In particular, she set up a (domestic) Inter- der a ruling party that is losing its reputation for secularism. And
national Crimes Tribunal to prosecute atrocities committed dur- the camps housing more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees who
ingthe war. Areckoningwasneeded, butthe tribunal was deeply have fled an army-led pogrom in Myanmar may become a fruit-
flawed, violating defendants’ rights and open to political med- ful recruitingground forextremists.
dling. The tribunal has hanged half a dozen defendants, includ- Extrajudicial killings, growing concerns over weak environ-
inga close adviserto MrsZia. The leadership ofthe BNP’sIslamist mental safeguards, pliable courts, a sense among young, educat-
formercoalition partner, Jamaat-e-Islami, was destroyed. ed Bangladeshis that they will be denied opportunities unless
In other ways, too, Sheikh Hasina has outsmarted Mrs Zia, they have the right connections, and rich pickings for extremism:
who shows signs of frailty and whose son and political heir, Ta- breakneckgrowth is beingasked to paperovera lot. 7