Continued Political Unease

It has been over a week since the last posting, and although there hasn't been the same level of violence, there has been continued political unease in the country.

The President of Bangladesh (which, ordinarily, is primarily a figurehead position), has become the leader of the neutral interim Caretaker Government (CG). Iajuddin became the leader in order to avoid continued street violence. His leadership of the CG averted disaster by the removal of the previously proposed, and very controversial, leader of the CG. However, President Iujaddin is not entirely neutral himself, and has made some disconcerting statements & political moves since taking over the helm of the CG.

It is my understanding that President Iujaddin has been aligned with the incumbent BNP party in the past. The opposition party, the Awami League (AL), did not protest the appointment of Iajuddin. This acceptance, albeit conditional, was surprising because the protests on October 27th & 28th were a result of the AL opposing a leader of the CG that had been proposed by the BNP.

The acceptance of Iajuddin as the leader of the CG was made conditional upon 11 demands, which, the AL claims, are to ensure neutrality of the CG and the upcoming elections. The deadline for the completion of these 11 points was tonight.

The AL has called for a seige of the city until its demails have been met, and the BNP has replied that its supporters will not back down if (when?) confronted. The seige will start tomorrow, and there is no end-date. Mark's office called tonight to let him know that he will be working from home for the next little while (as he has off and on for the past few weeks) and the city is in lock down.

All of the roads in and out of the city will be closed by protests, as well as major highways within the country. This is certain to cause hardships for people. Prices of products are certain to increase as the supply is cut off. Factories will not be able to bring in raw products and/or ship out finished products - this will result in thousands of people temporarily being laid off. The rickshaw wallahs who transport people to and from work will not have very many customers...and the list of people who suffer goes on and on.

I certainly hope that the politicians are able to look beyond their petty grievances, and get on with governing the country. The political situation over here seems like a big game for the leaders and their cronies (who never participate themselves in the violence, rather they pay 50 Taka, or about 85 cents, per day to the desperately poor and unemployed to rally in the streets). The population is suprisingly tolerant of these politicians, but there is a danger that another military coup is in the works...the coming week will tell. Regardless of the outcome, many people worry that the poor performance of this mainstream government in this somewhat secular Muslim nation will encourage people to support more radical Islamist organisations and parties - and that the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen party may gain support once again.

All this said, people should rest assured knowing that we are in a very safe area of Dhaka, and fortunately not near the frontlines of the unrest.