Editorial-
Declaration of ML and act of high treason
We heartily welcome the Judgement
We most heartily welcome the Supreme Court (SC) judgment declaring Martial Law (ML) as illegal and promulgation of ML as an act of High treason. The recently released full verdict of the Supreme Court on the historic Seventh Amendment to the Constitution has ruled that the violation of the Constitution is the gravest of all offences and shall remain illegitimate for all time to come.
We are glad that the highest court has put its seal on an issue that has been coming to the fore of public discourse from time to time. And it has been the demand of the people that political power cannot and must not ever be usurped by an extra-constitutional authority. And now, finally, the SC has invalidated appropriation of power by the military. We note with satisfaction that the present government has already amended the Constitution towards the end.
One must admit that Bangladesh has matured over the last two decades and so has its military. Since the departure of Ershad, military behaved as it should in a democracy. The military leadership too, we believe, have no inclination to power either. Unlike Pakistan, our military totally accepts the civilian leaders as their masters. If 1/11 happened in Bangladesh, putting the blame entirely in the military for that would be acknowledging half the truth. After all, there was the issue of potential subversion of election, of an inflated voter list, of an election commission tutored to run a convoluted poll, to make the result go BNP's way by hook or by crook.
On the other side, we want to stress that democracy does not mean holding an election every five years and winning an election by means fair or foul. Winning elections is only but a part of democracy with many more things, particularly ensuring good governance and implementing the rule of law rather than rule of men. Making democracy flourish entails allowing the institutions to run independently. Election victory, or a brute majority, does not give one the license to be an elected autocracy. It means taking the opposition into confidence and exercising intra-party democracy and allowing new leadership to grow, too. Only when we are able to differentiate between majority and majoritarian rule can we expect democracy to thrive fully.
Source: The Daily Star, Dhaka, 21 December 2012; link: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=261900
We heartily welcome the Judgement
We most heartily welcome the Supreme Court (SC) judgment declaring Martial Law (ML) as illegal and promulgation of ML as an act of High treason. The recently released full verdict of the Supreme Court on the historic Seventh Amendment to the Constitution has ruled that the violation of the Constitution is the gravest of all offences and shall remain illegitimate for all time to come.
We are glad that the highest court has put its seal on an issue that has been coming to the fore of public discourse from time to time. And it has been the demand of the people that political power cannot and must not ever be usurped by an extra-constitutional authority. And now, finally, the SC has invalidated appropriation of power by the military. We note with satisfaction that the present government has already amended the Constitution towards the end.
One must admit that Bangladesh has matured over the last two decades and so has its military. Since the departure of Ershad, military behaved as it should in a democracy. The military leadership too, we believe, have no inclination to power either. Unlike Pakistan, our military totally accepts the civilian leaders as their masters. If 1/11 happened in Bangladesh, putting the blame entirely in the military for that would be acknowledging half the truth. After all, there was the issue of potential subversion of election, of an inflated voter list, of an election commission tutored to run a convoluted poll, to make the result go BNP's way by hook or by crook.
On the other side, we want to stress that democracy does not mean holding an election every five years and winning an election by means fair or foul. Winning elections is only but a part of democracy with many more things, particularly ensuring good governance and implementing the rule of law rather than rule of men. Making democracy flourish entails allowing the institutions to run independently. Election victory, or a brute majority, does not give one the license to be an elected autocracy. It means taking the opposition into confidence and exercising intra-party democracy and allowing new leadership to grow, too. Only when we are able to differentiate between majority and majoritarian rule can we expect democracy to thrive fully.
Source: The Daily Star, Dhaka, 21 December 2012; link: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=261900
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