Huge possibility, Huge Challenge
* Interim government has an opportunity to set extraordinary example, says experts
* An opportunity for a new start, says ICG
Special Correspondent
Student demonstrations turned mass protests in Bangladesh overthrew an iron-fisted government, but the new caretaker government yet to be formed will face a greater challenge ahead, experts say. Amid this challenges huge possibility and opportunity to set extraordinary example also near the hand of this Interim government.
On the other hand, the new government tried to set the extraordinary example of leading the nation from taking the oath as interim government.
Muhammad Yunus, an 84-year-old Nobel-winning microfinance pioneer, will lead an interim government after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Monday.
Since Sheikh Hasina fled, police reported mobs launching revenge attacks on her allies.
Rights groups and diplomats in Bangladesh have raised concerns over reports of attacks on minorities including Hindus, seen by some in the Muslim-majority nation as steadfast supporters of Hasina's Awami League party.
"The first order of business for any interim government should be to ensure protection of people's right to life, right to free speech and peaceful assembly, and to find ways of de-escalating any potential for further violence", said Smriti Singh of Amnesty International.
Political scientist Ali Riaz of Illinois State University said he believed that if security forces back a government with "demonstrated neutrality" the situation would be "likely to calm down".
Police unions said their members had gone on strike Tuesday "until the security" of officers was assured.
Bangladesh has recorded average annual growth of more than six percent since 2009 and overtook India in per capita income terms in 2021.
But the dividends of economic growth have been shared unequally, with government data in 2022 showing that 18 million Bangladeshis aged 15 to 24 were out of work.
The unrest has also shaken the garment industry, with factories shuttered during the worst of the violence.
Bangladesh's 3,500 garment factories account for around 85 percent of its $55 billion in annual exports.
Supplying many of the world's top brands, including Levi's, Zara and H&M, Bangladesh is the world's second biggest exporter of clothing by value after China.
Meanwhile, The International Crisis Group (ICG), a global NGO and think tank, on Wednesday night published a set of recommendations for the army and the interim government in Bangladesh in the wake of the fall of Sheikh Hasina after week-long protests that engulfed the country in violence.
"The army should prevent reprisal killings, and the soon-to-be-formed interim government should investigate abuses and begin rebuilding democracy," the statement said.
The statement stresses upon the challenges of forming an interim government and the constitutional challenges it faces.
The ICG says the key will be to ensure that the protest movement is capably represented. If calm is to be restored, the statement read, those who risked and sacrificed the most to compel Hasina to resign -- namely, the students who initiated the protest movement -- should have a meaningful voice in the government's counsels, rather than finding themselves sidelined by conservative generals and opportunistic politicians.
The ICG recommended that the army and the interim government need to ensure "security and stability, including staving off reprisal attacks on Awami League members."
Ensuring justice for the violence of recent weeks and compensating victims are going to be equally important to this process, according to the ICG. Stability is also going to be important to avoid the short-term economic crisis, the ICG said.
In the statement, ICG said, "The bigger challenge for the interim government will be to put Bangladesh back on the path of genuine democracy."
The think tank recommended carefully weighing the costs and benefits between sticking to the constitutional limit of 90 days from the day of the dissolution of the parliament to the organising of new elections, or pushing back the elections to allow for the formation of new political parties -- possibly one led by students -- as elections right now would probably end with BNP emerging victorious.
The ICG statement characterized BNP as "little better than the Awami League that has just been turfed from office." It also points to the fact that "the magnitude of the student-led protests revealed the BNP's weakness, contrasting starkly with the party's campaign for political reform ahead of the January election, which drew in few people beyond its base."
The ICG advised foreign powers to make clear to the army and the interim government that an elected government must be established in a reasonable timeframe, be ready to provide financial and technical assistance for democratic reforms, and to "review their cooperation with Bangladeshi security services and make any future exchanges conditional on these agencies undertaking reforms that begin to address the culture of impunity and abuse."
ICG opines that India needs to tread carefully and "generally avoid actions that Bangladeshis could perceive as undermining their efforts to restore democracy."
While ICG admitted that Bangladesh is in a period of high instability, it also expressed hope that this is an opportunity for renewal. It urged foreign powers to help Bangladesh take advantage of this "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity.
