What else could Ershad expect from Justice Shahabuddin?

Gen Ershad once again spate venom on Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed. He accused the former chief justice of betraying him for what he said putting him behind the bars after his ouster from power in December 1990.

The fallen military dictator launched the tirade against Justice Shahabuddin at a discussion programme on Tuesday, December 6, on the day in 1990 when he was forced to step down from the presidency in face of vigorous movement waged by Awami League, BNP and other political parties, professional bodies and students.

He also did it in the past several times.

Is the accusation against Justice Shahabuddin justified at all? Does Ershad have any moral authority to blast him?

There is a huge fundamental difference between the actions of the general and the former chief justice.

The general grabbed the state power in an extra-constitutional means by ousting a four-month-long elected president in March 1982. He declared martial law; suspended the constitution; dissolved unlawfully the then elected parliament; occupied the presidency; ruled the country through the martial law proclamation and orders. He abused the powers of all the state organs to remain in office.

It was Gen Ershad who betrayed the nation by failing to remain loyal to the constitution as the army chief. Political parties and all professional bodies had to wage a long street agitation to force him to step down from the presidency.

In contrast, Justice Shahabuddin did not have any craving for the powers. He was chief justice of Bangladesh during the days of political turmoil. He did not wish to exercise the power of the presidency.

But he had to respond to the need of the time. The AL-led 8-party alliance, BNP-led 7-party alliance and left-leaning 5-party alliance considered him as a neutral and fit for the office. They had confidence in him that he would be able to lead a peaceful transition of power through a free and fair parliamentary election.

On their request, he agreed to assume the office of the vice-president of the country in a critical juncture of time. Being the vice-president, he acted as the president and formed his interim government to run the administration.   

In face of growing demand of political parties and professional bodies, his government put Ershad behind the bars a few days of he stepped down. 

Justice Shahabuddin's interim government had successfully held the parliamentary election in February 1991 in less than three months after assuming the office.

The then new government led by Khaleda Zia formed following the 1991 election was facing a dilemma over the mode of the government system. It delayed Justice Shahabuddin to return to his original post--the office of the chief justice.

He urged the then prime minister Khaleda Zia several times to finalise the mode of the government system and elect a new president, letting him return to the Supreme Court from Bangabhaban, the office-cum-residence of the president. He got relief of the presidency in October 1991 after the election of a new president by the parliament. He retired as the chief justice in February 1995.

For his reputation and acceptability among people, Sheikh Hasina-led AL government picked him as the party's presidential candidate in October 1996. On Hasina's request, he agreed.

Gen Ershad is aware of all it. Yet, he did not stop to spate venom on Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed who is a man of integrity, an attribute absent in the fallen military dictator.

What did Gen Ershad expect from the then Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed's government in December 1990?

Should the then government have allowed Ershad to live like a free bird even after committing the gravest criminal offences such as grabbing the state power by ousting an elected president, violation of the constitution, declaration of the martial law and carrying out torture on numerous numbers of politicians? Should the Justice Shahabuddin government have honoured Gen Ershad by taking some extraordinary measures to rehabilitate him politically?

But political situation has changed drastically in last 26 years which keeps allowing the fallen autocratic ruler to have a louder voice. He did not need to languish in jail for an indefinite period of times. He came out of jail on bail in 1997 by extending his party's support to the then AL-led government. One of his party's MPs joined the then government as a minister.

The two major political parties- AL and BNP- that led the movement against Ershad in the 1990s gradually appeared as a political enemy to each other. Ershad took the advantages of this. Finally, he became special envoy to the current prime minister with the status of a minister. Three of his party's MPs were made ministers of the current government. His wife was made formally the leader of the opposition in parliament.

The confrontational culture in politics has offered Gen Ershad a strong role to play in the current politics. 

So, when he in an unjustified way launched a verbal attack on a respectable man like Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, this does not surprise us at all. But we should keep it in mind that when Gen Ershad spate venom on Justice Shahabuddin, he actually dishonoured our long struggle for the restoration of democracy and souls of martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the agitation in the 1990s. It is because the assumption of power by Justice Shahabuddin after the fall of Gen Ershad was an outcome of a consensus among all the political parties fighting for the restoration of democracy.

Unfortunately, any mighty people now may use unspeakable words to blast any respectable personality whom s/he does not like. A man who betrayed the nation may accuse others of betraying him. This is in no way freedom of speech if there is no sense of decency. This is the ugly face of our present politics.