Editorial Desk :
It should now be abundantly clear that free election in the Bangladesh context does not mean free election as mandated by the parliamentary system of democracy.
The government accepts the 1972 democratic Constitution as the basis but ignores as if it does not exist.
The present government of rigged election had won the last two general elections also the same way by using their election rigging machinery.
Such a government served only the election riggers and ruined the economy and corrupted the whole administration.
The US visa sanction and freezing of bank accounts of questionable individuals are proving effective, making the people sure of success against rigged election system. The election riggers are looking for a safe way.
It now has to be found out whose government is in power on the basis of rigged elections.
One thing is sure: the present government of rigged election is neither legal nor has it the required constitutional legitimacy. Still, Awami League continued in power for nearly 14 years.
The more important question is: as it is not elected by our people, then whose government it is? The election rigging machinery has been working too secretly yet not so secretly.
The government that maintained a separate election rigging mechanism to be “elected” by the government servants is not elected by the people and cannot call itself the people’s government.
The foreign minister Abdul Momen confidently claimed that he had asked India to allow just one more term to help Awami League continue in power.
In our view the implication is that things will be so finalised that election rigging will not be necessary; following the dead BAKSAL one-party government, Awami League will be a communist-kind revolutionary government where the idea of people’s election does not exist.
In this way the government can stay in power as long as it wishes.
The question is unavoidable about the freedom fighters as to whose freedom fighters they were when they did not raise a voice in defence of our people’s freedom.
They get hefty benefits from the government every month when our people are denied even the basic right to choose their own government!
This basic right is so vital that without this we all cease to be citizens of our own country.
All this has been possible by terrorising the people using secret killings and forced disappearances. The Amnesty International and European Union have been expressing anxieties to know how many people were the victims of such inhumanity.
The government has been free to use police power to keep the political opponents in jail as criminals.
We are not interested in party politics here, we are insisting on the people’s basic voting rights being denied through a watertight election rigging mechanism that ensures election victory for the government one after another.
In fact, we have two elections. One is conducted by the prime minister where voters have no access.
The other is held under the Election Commission. It is merely a show. The people vote but their votes are not counted for election victory.
That is decided by the government officials under the guidance of the prime minister.
We admit that it is our educated perception about how the election rigging machinery works.
If somebody challenges how it works we shall welcome it. We have no other motive other than the public interest that the people must be free to vote for choosing their government. With our voting rights denied, we are nothing but slaves.
We suggest that so much money should not be spent on farcical elections.
It is clear from the fact that free and fair elections under the parliamentary system are not acceptable to the government.
The sitting elected government must remain in power to supervise the election.
Even in India the sitting government resigns and the president appoints a caretaker government for the election time.
Our misfortune is that our educated ones do no care to use their knowledge in the greater interest of the people. There are few exceptions.
But it is too little too late. The country is heading towards a bloody confrontational situation and they are sleeping peacefully so as not to be disturbed.
The safest thing for the government is to go for an emergency government to avoid direct clashes with the people.
