The current now accepted military doctrine across the world is that the armed forces are there for a specific function which is primarily to defend the external borders of a country and in extreme situations to prevent the internal collapse of a state but only after the relevant police forces and other internal security organizations have failed to do so. In this piece of writing related to any possible change of government in Bangladesh facilitated/supported by the military I will first of all start by looking at Turkey and the coup of General Kenan Evran.
1. The 1980 coup in Turkey.
Turkey in the 1970s was in a semi-civil war with leftists and rightists killing each other. Similar to the Iraq conflict a few years ago but underreported in many narratives of the 1970s civil war in Turkey it was also to a degree a Sunni v Shia/Alevi conflict. The right wing consisted of Sunni nationalists and greywolves whilst the left wing consisted of communists many of whom were Alevis.
Turkish Republic History
1980 Turkish coup d'état - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Turkish military finally stepped in after many years of killing and bloodbaths and carried out a coup. Though they are now vilified by many in the Turkish media and in fact the generals are now finally facing trials, they bought stability to the country.
Turkish security forces make dozens of men lie on the floor in the Turkish coup of 1980.
Kenan Evran the head of the Turkish army who carried out Turkey's last outright coup in 1980.
Evren in the centre with other coup generals.
1. The 1970s civil war ended.
2. The economy which was almost about to collapse recovered then flourished.
3. Turkish society received a stable ideology called the "Turk-Islam" synthesis (i.e. the nationalist Turkish right won their civil war with the Alevi left).
2. Bangladeshi caretaker government of 2007-2008
The Bangladeshi military backed government of 2007 failed to be as successful as the 1980 coup of the legendary Kenan Evren who bought 33 years of relative piece to Turkish society including up till now (excluding the Kurdish conflict which has cost 40,000 lives).
The military need to do some of the things the Turkish military did in 1980 which was supported (if not even instigated) by the US, who also need to work in conjunction with the Bangladeshi military.
1. Ban all political parties, the Kemalist Turkish military even banned the party of Ataturk, the CHP itself. So in the Bangladeshi context the Jamat e Islami, Awami League, the BNP and all communist parties should all be banned.
Maybe some of the smaller parties should be allowed including some of the Islamic parties, Jatiya party (no history of hartals or political terrorism) and others.
2. Authorize the establishment or continued operation of a few new parties which the interim government backed by the military regards as not being a threat to Bangladeshi national security, this can include:
i: A party led by Sohel Taj, the former Awami League minister known for his opposition to corruption and principles and the son of Tajuddin one of the national heroes of Bangladesh.
ii: The BJP of Barrister Andaleeb Rahman, a British-educated lawyer with very good connections in the Bangladeshi elite.
iii: A party founded by Abdul Awal Mintoo.
iv: A party founded by Muhammad Yunus.
All other parties except for those approved of the interim government should be banned from operating primarily due to their history of violence and political terrorism.
- Awami League leader Hasina and other Awami League leaders must be put on trial for various crimes including:
- The Pilkhana massacre.
- Abduction and murder of opposition activists.
- Murder of journalist couple in Dhaka, Sagar Sawar and Meherun Runi
- Khaleda Zia must also be put on trial for her role in the murder of 24 people in an Awami rally on August 21st 2004 and be given life imprisonment. All those in the BNP involved in this should be given life imprisonment/capital punishment. The BNP, like the Awami League must be banned as an illegal terrorist organization.
- Other BNP leaders must be tried for their various other crimes.
Injured victims of the BNP governments terrorist attack on an Awami League rally where they attempted to murder Hasina Wajid, and murdered 24 people including the wife of the current Bangladeshi president.
- Jamati leaders must be tried but in new fairer trials which meet requirements international bodies are happy with.
Jamat e Islami must be banned and declared a terrorist organization. Jamati terrorists found responsible for the recent destruction of Hindu houses and murder of Hindus must be executed along with other Jamati terrorists.
Bangladesh must work with other Muslim states that have faced terrorism to co-operate. Bangladesh must ask Saudi Arabia to ban all Jamaati activities in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh must maintain a ban on all works of Maudoodi, the founder of Jamaat who is hated by the Salafee scholars of Saudi Arabia.
The Bangladeshi military should even consider asking the Pakistani military and government to reinstate the Pakistani governments ban on Jamat e Islami which former president Ayub Khan implemented.
Ayub Khan on the left with Jinnah. Khan ordered Jamat e Islami (a party which originally opposed the creation of Pakistan) to be banned. Maudoodi the party's founder was also arrested by the Pakistani military for inciting hatred against Qadianis which led to the Lahore riots of 1953 where Jamati thugs targeted Qadianis. Maudoodi was originally sentenced to death by the Pakistani military. In the 1950s Jamatis attacked Qadianis in Pakistan, in 2013 Jamatis murdered Hindus in Bangladesh. The party must be banned permanently and declared an outlawed terrorist organization just as the TTP in Pakistan or Al-Qaeda.
The Turkish military coup of 1980 involved the arrest of maybe 1/2 a million people, the trial of 1/4 a million people, 14,000 had their citizenship removed and 50 executed. I do not support the same for Bangladesh as Bangladesh is no way as violent and unstable as Turkey was in the 1970s. However what the new interim government must do is ban all parties, Awami League, BNP, Jamat, communists apart from those with no track record of violence and terrorism e.g. Jatiya party, the BJP etc.
The authorities must form an interim government led by people suitable e.g. Ershad, Sohel Taj, Abdul Awal Mintoo or Andalib Rahman. For example Ershad can be president, Sohel Taj can be prime minister, Andalib Rahman can be foreign minister and Abdul Awal Mintoo can be Bangladesh's first defence minister.
The new interim government should run the country for 6 months and then followed by a referendum on whether they should continue to rule the country for another 5 years.
If the answer is yes, they should continue to rule and have the democratic mandate to govern the country just as any BNP/Awami regime ever did.
The caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed, though very efficient stalled many important decisions as they believe they did not have a democratic mandate to do so. The Sohel Taj government would through a national referendum democratically endorsing their administration would.
However the BNP, Awami League, Jamat, communists should all remain banned and all politicians involved in violence and terrorism should be banned from politics for life.
If the answer in the referendum is no, then another 3-6 months should be spent until elections excluding the Awami League, BNP, Jamat, communists who should all remain banned, take place.
With a stable 5 year Sohel Taj government Bangladesh can avoid political terrorism, attain double digit economic growth, become the next China i.e. manufacturing hub and become the next Asian tiger economy.
Sohel Taj.