Hanging should not derail Bangladesh election process

Bangladesh hanged Islamist party leader Abdul Quader Molla late Thursday for crimes committed during the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan. The execution comes more than four decades after Bangladesh won its independence in a bloody war that left an estimated 3mn people dead, 200,000 women raped and numerous homes torched.

Molla, the assistant secretary general of Bangladesh’s largest Islamic political party, is the first of seven opposition leaders set to be executed as a result of a series of verdicts handed down by a special tribunal tasked with investigating war crimes.

His execution has worsened tensions that were already running high, threatening to cripple Bangladesh’s economy, notably its $22bn garment industry. Fears that the execution could spark further unrest were soon realised as reports emerged of street battles in towns and cities.

The country is on a razor’s edge at the moment with pre-election tensions running high and almost non-stop street protests. The hanging marks a watershed in the country’s short but often bloody history. This is the first time a senior politician has been tried in a civil court and hanged for offences committed in 1971. The government has clearly taken a calculated risk in carrying out the sentence at a time when the country is already in the grip of nearly a month-long opposition strike.

The government of Sheikh Hasina had come under pressure not to carry out the death sentence from the UK, US, the EU and the UN’s human rights body. They worry that the hanging could derail delicate negotiations over upcoming general elections scheduled for January 5.

The government’s determination to see through Molla’s trial to the bitter end has also generated great debate in Bangladesh. Molla’s Jamaat-e-Islami is aligned to the country’s largest opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Jamaat has claimed its leaders were being targeted for trial as part of the governing Awami League’s efforts to destroy the opposition.

For nearly a month, the entire country has been under a rail and road blockade by the BNP and its allies. The BNP has rejected the January 5 date set for general elections, and called for action to bring down Hasina’s interim government. The BNP and its allies want a neutral caretaker government to oversee the polls, arguing that Hasina cannot be trusted to deliver free and fair elections.

Opinion polls show overwhelming public support for elections under a neutral government. But at the same time, there is great deal of public disquiet over the opposition’s agitation programme, which has left at least 50 people dead since November 26.

There are fears that, if Molla’s hanging does trigger violent protests on top of the blockades and strikes, then the government would find reason to call in the army. This would end hopes of elections for some time. It is therefore important for both sides to strike a compromise for an ‘inclusive election.’