By KVVV Charya
Claimed to be anti-discrimination of Student Movement that led the oust of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina leading to large scale arson and fatal attacks on minority Hindus in Bangladesh had culminated with its Army Chief stepped in to control the violence and to facilitate elections.
Unlike Army in 2007 took control over the governance in a coup, in the present crisis the Army is seen resorting to restore democratic process as projected the will of the people. The present situation in Bangladesh calls for a strong man at the top and even Army accepted the students’ choice by bringing Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the head of the interim government.
Sheikh Hasina had also faced similar crisis in February 2009, where the rebels took over the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters which ended killing about 74 persons including about 57 Army officers. The trouble broadened to 12 odd towns posing direct threat the Ms. Hasina government. However, the revolt subsided later and Hasina continued as Prime Minister, since she was elected with peoples support and no army interference.
Now the political observers see the students’ agitation got hijacked by the people who were suffocated during the earlier regime including the banned Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, which had unleashed Islamic jihadist violence in 2006-07. These elements demolished symbols of liberation and attacked Hindu minority community.
With the partnering these vulnerable groups, the present interim regime led by Yunus be weakened and predictably increase anti-India sentiments. It would be difficult for the Bangladesh Army to control these forces.
Taking cue from the events that unfolding points out one interesting observation, that the democratic forces are taking roots in Bangladesh, Myanmar and even Sri Lanka to some extent. In all these countries, the coup leaders are finding it difficult to take control over the people and collapsing very near future.
If one look at the events that fastened in Maldives or Afghanistan or Sri Lanka or in the present Bangladesh, India need to work closely with the people and Army in order to bring the order in the region.
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