Bangladesh power struggle: Yunus government wants President out, Army chief on radar
Subir Bhaumik
Intense power struggle continues to rage in Bangladesh even as it has just been a few months since the unceremonious ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus is now exploring options to oust President Sahabuddin Chuppu after the Army Chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, made it clear that the three service chiefs will report to the President -- the supreme commander of the armed forces.
Top lawyers and constitutional experts have been roped in to explore how the President's post can be filled legally if Shahabuddin Chuppu is forced to resign. "So far advice from legal eagles close to the advisors of the interim government has been negative on that issue," a top government official said on the condition of anonymity.
The hurdle before the Yunus government is that the President can't be elected because the Hasina government collapsed and Parliament was dissolved. The provision to elect the President through an indirect election was introduced after the 12th Amendment to the Bangladesh Constitution under Article 48.
Top military sources confirmed Zaman, right now on an official trip to the US, anticipated plans to remove him and decided to flex his muscles.
Social media in Bangladesh is abuzz with reports of a verbal confrontation between military officers close to him and student leaders backing Yunus. Neither the Army nor the interim government has confirmed or denied these reports, lending grist to speculation of a possible civil-military confrontation in the making.
Student groups, who piloted the mass upsurge leading to Hasina's ouster in August, are now reportedly planning to hit the streets again to force the President to resign. President Chuppu has, however, made it clear he is determined to hold his ground and not give in to "unlawful pressure".
This time, the student groups who Yunus described as "masterminds" of the anti-Hasina upsurge, intend to bring down Chuppu in the same way they forced the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and his appellate bench to resign. Judges who refused to resign were sent on leave by the new Chief Justice appointed by the interim government.
"This is the weapon of orchestrated anarchy that the interim government has freely used to oust anyone seen as close to the Hasina government but who could not be ousted legally," said Bangladesh expert Sabyasachi Basu Raychoudhuri.
PRESIDENT: LAST VESTIGE OF AWAI GOVERNMENT
The President is seen as the last vestige of the Awami League government because he was nominated by Hasina and elected with her blessings.
Since the President administers the advisers of the interim government the oath of office, he cannot be constitutionally thrown out. And the army chief, who was also appointed by Hasina and is her relative, can only be legally removed by the President.
The Army Chief invited the ire of Yunus and the student leaders after he pitched for elections within eighteen months. Informed sources said General Zaman has been pushing Yunus to announce a road map for holding elections.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which emerged as the front runner to win the polls after the Awami League, has also been pushing the Yunus administration to announce early elections.
The Nobel laureate economist heading the interim government as chief adviser has avoided announcing any plans for elections and said he would do so only after enacting important reforms to address woes facing Bangladesh.
Student groups and the Islamist organisations have given Yunus unstinted support because he has appointed many of their favourites in key positions.
Jamaat-e-Islami, a leading radical group, had the ban on it lifted after Yunus took charge. It is now working to create a broader Islamist platform that could evolve into a political alternative independent of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Constitutional experts said reform is the prerogative of an elected parliament and the interim government should just focus on restoring law and order and then hold free and fair elections.
In fact, Yunus and his council of advisors have taken an oath on the existing Bangladesh Constitution, which has no provision for an interim government. The provision for a caretaker government was done away with 14 years ago.
Yunus critics are raising these issues, and he is especially unnerved by the pressure from the Army and the spectre of an "unfriendly" President.
After Hasina's ouster, the street power of the student groups, many closely aligned to Islamist radical groups like Jamaat-e-Islami and Hizb-ut-Tahrir, has been used ruthlessly to force the resignation of judges, bureaucrats and academic professionals -- all in the name of a revolution to end the undemocratic Awami League regime.
Meanwhile, the Yunus administration has gone after the Awami League with vengeance.
At least 1,474 cases have been filed nationwide between August 6 and September 25 after the fall of Hasina's government. Arrest warrants have been issued against Hasina and some of her former cabinet colleagues.
Police sources say 92,486 people, including former prime minister Hasina, ex-ministers, political leaders, and police personnel, have been implicated in these cases, mostly for murder.
While only 779 people were arrested between August 5 and September 25 in the July-August violence cases. The arrests have sharply gone up this month, with 7,018 individuals apprehended in the first week alone.
Lawyers say most of these cases, especially those for alleged murder, would be difficult to prove, but they are good enough to keep the Awami Leaguers and others close to them on the run.