In a sequel to the flopped rally of the National Citizen Party (NCP) at the Central Shaheed Minar on August 3, the governmentโs July Declaration event at Manik Mia Avenue drew very few turnouts on Tuesday despite immense facilitation spending millions from the state exchequer.
Muhammad Yunus, the self-proclaimed chief adviser to the unconstitutional interim government, presented the 28-point declaration on the National Parliament premises in front of several hundred invited guests, mostly leaders of some political parties and several diplomats who supported the Jamaat-planned student movement last year.
Surprisingly, Yunusโ NCP was represented by its convener, Nahid Islam, while other top leadersโNasiruddin Patwary, Hasnat Abdullah, Sarjis Alam and Tasnim Jaraโflew to Coxโs Bazar apparently after knowing that the declaration does not contain the Second Republic as per their demand.
NCPโs Senior Joint Chief Coordinator Abdul Hannan Masud announced to boycott of the event the day before. In a Facebook post, he said that the government could not invite the 158 coordinators and co-coordinators of the July movement.
He was apprehensive about whether there would be a place for the families of the martyrs. They have been made worthless in less than a year.
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In the morning, various media reports claimed that former US ambassador Peter Haas was meeting with the NCP leaders in Coxโs Bazar. But NCP Joint Convener Khaled Saifullah binned the reports as โpropagandaโ and said that they went to Cox’s Bazar to visit.
On the other hand, Patwary said that the meeting with Peter Haas was a complete rumour.
The Bangladesh embassy in Washington also confirmed that Peter Haas, who is a strategic adviser to Excelerate Energy, was in the US on Tuesday.
Full of lies
Political observers, journalists, and pro-liberation activists have described the declaration as a testament to the distortion of history, glorification of the jihadists, terrorists, and ordinary protesters as national heroes, and assurance of their legal protection, impunity for the killers, and demonisation of the Awami League, Bangabandhu, and Sheikh Hasina.
It says the anti-government movement will be given appropriate recognition by the state and Constitution, and the declaration will be included in the schedule of the revised Constitution of the government elected in the next election.
The historical narratives suggest that the BNP-Jamaat elements prepared the declaration.
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For example, Yunus said that on August 5, Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country. In reality, she did not tender her resignation to President Mohammed Shahabuddin and was flown to India on an aircraft of the Armed Forces.
On the other hand, the declaration said the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM) launched their demonstrations in July, demanding the revocation of the quota system, which was revived through a court order on June 5, after six years, and to prevent corruption.
However, the ADSM stated that they wanted to reform the quota system, specifically requesting a reduction in the quota for family members of freedom fighters, and clarified that there was no demand regarding corruption.
The declaration said that people from all walks of life, โincluding political parties, religious, social, cultural, professional, and labour organisations, joined the student uprising,โ and the Awami League forces indiscriminately killed about 1,000 peopleโฆ โAt the final stage of the movement, members of the military supported the people’s democratic struggle.โ
In reality, the other forces did not show support to the Jamat-Shibir movement before August 1, when the Awami League government banned the radical Islamist party.
Moreover, Yunus said about 1,000 people were killed, but the Yunus-backed UN report put the number at 1,400 while the government listed 834 deceased, including fake โmartyrs.โ
The declaration also acknowledged the role of the Bangladesh Army in early August, or its inaction to tackle the anarchy amid a curfew following the ban on Jamaat-Shibir under the pressure of the UN.
In clause 20, it terms the 12th parliament โillegalโ and states that it was dissolved โas per the demands of the people.โ However, this parliament was legal and constitutional and received international support, and it was dissolved by the president on August 5 at gunpoint while the Speaker was absent.
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Yunus also mentioned that the interim government was formed on August 8 โin accordance with Article 106 of the Constitution,โ which is a complete lie. The provision was not followed properly, as the Appellate Division full bench, led by the chief justice, was not present in court to give its nod, which is why the conspirators forged his signature.
It says the strong aspirations of all levels of the people of Bangladesh and the student uprising revealed the intention to build a society and state free from fascism, discrimination, and corruption.
But in reality, the Yunus-led, Jamaat-controlled government and its beneficiaries have established a reign of mob violence, captured the law enforcement agencies and the courts to suppress the dissent, created discrimination in all sectors through nepotism, and indulged in widespread corruption, looting public money and the properties of the Awami League leaders, activists, and supporters.
The declaration says the government will swiftly bring to justice the crimes of disappearances, murder, genocide, crimes against humanity, and all forms of torture, oppression, and looting of state property committed by the Awami League government during the past 16 years.
Since there is no rule of law, but mob rule, the police are forced to register false cases and submit flawed charges, and the courts are partisan, it is unlikely that this government is unable to deliver justice.
The declaration says a society and democratic state system will be established based on the rule of law and human rights, which will be free from corruption, exploitation, discrimination, and values, and free from discrimination, in accordance with the expectations of the people of the country, especially the young generation, through necessary constitutional reforms in the next parliament and ensuring free, fair, and impartial elections within a reasonable time.
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Yunus said that they have the intention to carry out democratic reforms of the existing Constitution and all state and constitutional institutions in a systematic manner with the aim of ensuring good governance and fair elections, preventing the recurrence of fascist rule, the rule of law, and economic and social justice.
Such sweet words are in stark contrast with reality.
Recognising the Proclamation of Independence, Yunus said the people of Bangladesh made the ultimate sacrifice to realise the desire to build a liberal democratic state on the basis of equality, human dignity, and social justice.
This proclamation was declared on April 10, 1971, seven days before the oath taking of the Provisional Government at Mujibnagar in line with the message sent by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman before his arrest at midnight on March 25.
Without mentioning the name of Bangabandhu, the July Declaration says the post-independence Awami League government failed to fulfill the people’s aspirations of the Liberation War and undermined the effectiveness of democracy and state institutions.
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For this, Yunus alleged that the process of enacting the 1972 Constitution was weak and the Constitution was misused.
The declaration also blames Bangabandhu for establishing a constitutional one-party system in the name of Baksal (Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League) and alleges that freedom of expression and the judiciary were snatched. For this reason, the military and the people held a revolution on November 7, 1975, paving the way for resuming multi-party democracy, expression, and independence of the judiciary.
In reality, Bangabandhu introduced Baksal as a platform for all parties, groups and individuals and planned to decentralise power, focus on agricultural and industrial development for self-sufficiency and combat corruption, smuggling, and armed robberies.
At that time, Bangladesh was facing economic meltdown due to the global recession and flooding. Moreover, Bangabandhu was irritated by the armed gangs of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Sarbahara Party and National Awami Party (Bhashani) and the international conspirators while holding the trial of the collaborators of the Pakistani Army.
In collusion with these forces, a section of the army assassinated Bangabandhu with most of his family members on August 15, two weeks before the Baksal was set to come into effect.
BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, then the deputy chief of the army, was the beneficiary of the assassination, became the army chief on August 23, orchestrated the assassinations of the four national leaders in jail, and captured power on November 7 through a bloody coup. He also ensured safe exit of the killers and passed the Indemnity Act through parliament.
Before arranging the parliamentary election, General Zia ruled the country under martial law for four years, restricting basic rights of the people, political parties, and the press and holding a farcical presidential election.
The July Declaration mentions the 1990 mass uprising against General HM Ershad, once a deputy of General Zia, terming it a military dictatorship.
While it says that the parliamentary democratic system of government was reintroduced in 1991, the declaration mentioned nothing about the violation of the outline of the three alliances and vote rigging by the government of Khaleda Zia.
In 1996, when the Awami League came to power for the first time since 1975, Sheikh Hasina revoked the Indemnity Act and started the trial of Bangabandhuโs killers. She transferred power to a caretaker government after five years, but the party faced unprecedented violence and corruption by the BNP-Jamaat and their militant goons from 2001 to 2006.
To rig votes, the four-party alliance government changed the retirement age of the chief justice, made 1.5 crore fake voters, and appointed party workers as election officers ahead of the polls slated for January 22, 2007.
However, the army chief, General Moin Uddin, captured power on January 11 and asked Yunus to take the helm as the chief adviser, but he recommended Fakhruddin Ahmed.
Meanwhile, Yunus floated a party of his own, Nagorik Shakti, with The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam as its secretary, amid a state of emergency. He gave up after two months due to massive criticism and lack of support.
On the other hand, Yunus had advised the army and the interim government, which lasted for two years instead of three months as stipulated in the Constitution, to implement the unpopular minus-2 formula in collaboration with Western powers.
The July Declaration says the democratic process of changing the government was โdisrupted by domestic and foreign conspiracies,โ and that the Fakhruddin-Moin Uddin government helped the Awami League win a landslide victory in the 2008 election.
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