World cares about us, but do we?

OF late, we were startled by two falsehoods -- one, a deliberate gaffe corrected post-haste; and the other a mischievous attempt at populism after an anti-people act. This is the stuff one expects when the chariot is in a back gear. To say that this is regression would be an insult to the word itself. For, the other day, we heard the news of an exceptional car: Its front gears failing, it was driven forward in back gear making the distance its owner intended to do!

State Minister of Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam having met the European Parliament delegation on Wednesday last had said: "The delegation did not express any concern over the human rights situation." He proved to the hilt John Kifner's words, "An official denial is a de facto confirmation." 

The following day the delegation head assailed the state minister's comment after its meeting with the chairman, Human Rights Commission: "We are here because we are very concerned about the human rights situation." 

This prompted the foreign ministry to issue a corrective statement saying, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the visiting members of the European Parliament would like to clarify that human rights were the main subject of the one-hour meeting held on February 18." 

Another embarrassing statement came from BNP, this time for the ears of domestic constituency in a vain attempt to salve its conscience; but who knows whether it was a makeover with a wider audience in mind. A BNP announcement said: "Those who died during the violence over last one and a half months would be declared as freedom fighters." Without taking responsibility for the consequences of open-ended oborodh and hartals they are now abominably trying to sanctify the killings.

Turn now to self-contradictions that are uniquely our own. You cannot find a second country in the world unabashedly displaying such contradictory behavioural patterns. The contrasts are four-fold: One, our political parties go head over heels to garner support from international quarters for their respective positions when facing a political cu-de-sac. At the same time, they blame each other for lobbying in and taking domestic issues to, some selected world capitals and multilateral institutions for what is touted as 'international interference.' The second inconsistency is more amusing than rancorous: To the extent a statement from international quarters goes in favour of one party, the other would be discomfited and dismissive about it. The third point of contradiction is, each contending side has a panache for breaking major news overseas instead of respecting the first right of their domestic constituency to it. 

But the trouble this time is that no side could outscore each other because of even-handed international criticisms of the goings-on, irrespective of their origins. Here you come by the fourth self-contradictory trait, namely, much as you have courted international endorsement of your stance, a rational suggestion from a friendly country wouldn't be heeded by either party. Take for instance, the call for immediate halt to nearly two-month old havoc-wreaking blockade including hartals falling on BNP's deaf ears. This is in spite of such visceral programmes running out of steam as sheer necessity forces the people to go about their business braving all suspected booby traps. In fact, oborodh and hartal as political programmes have been reduced to dangerous acts of subversion and sabotage. 

At the other pole, the government has the perfect ground to demand an immediate stop to oborodh, including BNP's complete disconnect with Jamaat-Shibir extremists before the former consider opening up for talks. This finds a resonance from the western world's persistence on similar points. But this approach does not preclude a concern over human rights violations in such tumultuous times. 

The ruling party shakes off the pressure for talks as they make no bones about their intent to continue till 2019. On the other hand, the BNP faces an existential challenge. In spite of the government's insistence on completing its tenure there need not be a mental barrier to engaging the BNP on a second private track to keep them busy constructively. This could lead to BNP adopting peaceful means to take issues with the government as well as building public opinion for their rightful causes. Let no iron curtain be dropped on prospects of negotiations, the main protagonists do need to come out of their bunkered positions. The overarching fact is, if the first year is any foretaste of the remaining four years till 2019 then one shudders to think what lies ahead of the country! Some covenant of stability must be worked out. We have resilience, genius and above all precedents to craft a way out of the morass. 

The famous economist John Maynerd Keynes shines a light here: "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." It was a statement on monetary reform but fits hand-in-glove with our current political predicament. 

The writer is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.  
E-mail: husain.imam@thedailystar.net