Bangladesh army chief seems to be cosying upto Yunus. Did 5 people have to die for it?

Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus and Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman. | X & Reuters

It will soon be one year since Sheikh Hasina’s forced exit from Bangladesh and the Muhammad Yunus government’s first anniversary. And political alignments in Dhaka are only getting harder to read. Case in point, Bangladesh’s chief of army staff, General Waker-Uz-Zaman.

It is no easy task for an army chief appointed by the ousted Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to survive in Bangladesh’s chaotic political environment. Especially when General Waker is related to Hasina through his wife’s family, and many of those related to Hasina or her party, Awami League, are either in exile or in jail. Waker’s relationship with the caretaker to the interim government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, has reportedly been strained. General Waker has survived so far, but not too long ago, there were speculations of a coup against him.

So, when Waker’s troops clashed with political protesters of the Awami League on 16 July, killing five and injuring over a hundred, it called into question not just the troubling matter of military action on civilians, but also changing dynamics between the Army chief and Yunus. With most political parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), demanding early polls and the Yunus administration coming under attack over continuing attacks on minorities and deteriorating law and order situation in the country, the two seem to have kissed and made up. American president Abraham Lincoln was right when he said, “Am I not destroying an enemy when I make a friend of him?” 

What happened in Gopalganj? 

On 16 July, leaders of the National Citizen Party (NCP) had to return to Dhaka from Gopalganj district under the protection of the Army after a series of violent attacks from political protesters. An armoured personnel carrier of the Bangladesh Army guarded them on the way back to Dhaka. Local reports say supporters of the banned Chhatra League and Awami League began pelting stones at the NCP leaders. In response, the police, paramilitary and the army took on the protestors. Five people were killed, and over a hundred were injured.

Human rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra visited Gopalganj on 21–22 July. Witnesses told them that NCP leaders delivered speeches that included inflammatory remarks directed at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Awami League. The remarks sparked immediate tension and escalated into violent clashes lasting nearly three hours, during which “local residents” took to the streets in response. Among the five people killed in the violence, only Ramzan Munshi, who died during treatment in Dhaka, underwent a confirmed post-mortem. According to Ain o Salish Kendra, his autopsy report noted gunshot wounds.

What happened in Gopalganj raises serious questions about the presence of the army at a political venue inside Bangladesh. A deteriorating law and order situation over inflammatory political speeches should have been dealt with by the local police. But five Bangladeshi civilians shot dead by their own army and over a hundred injured in clashes point to a country at war with itself.  It also shows how political equations in Dhaka might be shifting.

Waker then and now

On 27 May, I had written a column saying the Bangladesh Army Chief wants elections, and Muhammad Yunus wants to get rid of him. I quoted a report from Bangladesh’s highest-selling English newspaper, The Daily Star, that said Waker wanted a national election by December this year. “Bangladesh needs political stability. This is only possible through an elected government, not by unelected decision-makers,” a source had quoted the army chief as saying in an Officers’ Address. Soon after, the news came that Yunus was mulling resignation. NCP leader Nahid Islam had confirmed this. “He (Yunus) said he is thinking about it (resignation). He feels that the situation is such that he cannot work,” Islam had said. On 24 May, it was clarified that Yunus would remain as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government.

This is not all. On 21 March, the local press had reported that top leaders of the NCP had publicly blamed Waker for trying to bring the Awami League back into Bangladesh’s political arena. They also alleged Waker did not want Yunus as the caretaker to the interim government.

This public outrage by the NCP, often referred to as the King’s Party in Bangladesh for its close ties to Yunus, set the tone for the next government action. On 10 May, Yunus’ government banned all activities of the Awami League, practically barring it from the next round of elections.

With this being the relationship between these three entities, the million Bangladeshi-taka question is: Why would the army chief send his troops to defend NCP leaders who had not too long ago publicly attacked him?

Kolkata-based political journalist Jaydeep Majumdar, who covers Bangladesh, told me it is one of two things. “One theory is that the Army platoon that reached Gopalganj on that day did not take prior permission from Waker. The Bangladesh Army is now divided into factions. Or, perhaps what seems more feasible is that Waker is now simply saving himself,” Majumdar said. Majumdar said Waker is scheduled to retire from service in September this year, and that would mean the immunity he gets as Army chief would be gone.

The second theory would make sense because it seems highly unlikely that Yunus is going anywhere before the elections scheduled for next year, dates for which are still not clear. My sources in the BNP have told me most political parties want polls as soon as possible, but it is in the interest of Yunus, the NCP, aka the King’s party, and the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh to delay it. Waker may simply have read the room.

Bangladeshi political commentator Faiyaz Hossain told me it is a matter of international shame that the Bangladeshi army used lethal weapons and fired live ammunition on a civilian population that didn’t fire a single bullet. “The Army acted as bodyguards of the leaders of the King’s party and by extension leaned toward the Yunus administration,” he said.

With no clarity over poll dates, perhaps Waker has no option left than to side with Yunus. One wishes he hadn’t killed civilians to seal the deal.

Deep Halder is an author and journalist. He tweets @deepscribble. Views are personal.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)