The luckless people of Bangladesh have once again passed under military rule. It had been widely predicted for the last two months or so that General Ershad would seize power. He has finally done so. The pretext is that corruption had assumed alarming proportions and that the law and order situation had deteriorated dangerously. This cannot convince either the people of Bangladesh or foreign observers. General Ershad has staged the coup simply because he has been wanting power for himself and the armed forces. Indeed, he has made no bones about it for quite some time. During the election campaign last October, he put it on record that the army would not accept a verdict in favour of the Awami League candidate, Mr. Kamal Hussain, foreign minister under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In the event, his candidate, Mr. Abdus Sattar, vice-president under President Ziaur Rahman, won a landslide victory securing 8.5 million votes more than his rival. But this did not keep General Ershad pleased for long. He demanded a major say for the army in the management of the country’s affairs which President Sattar was reluctant to concede.
Mr. Sattar tried to appease General Ershad and contain him at the same time. He formed the national security council largely with that end in view. The three service chiefs were represented on it but were in a minority. And the council’s role was to be advisory. The General said that the council’s composition as well as limited role were unacceptable to him. He forced a change in the composition first of the council and then of the cabinet. Yet he remained unappeased. His role in the recent exit of the vice-president, Mr. MN Huda, remains obscure and there is no means of knowing whether President Sattar’s decision to induct a former aide of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as his deputy has determined the timing of the coup. But these are marginal issues and so is the timing of the coup. It had to take place and it has taken place.
The ousted Bangladesh president must be admired for his courage of conviction. He was convinced that soldiers should guard a country, not rule over it, and he said so publicly. But he lacked the charisma which could help him discipline his own feuding partymen and keep the ambitious General at bay. His non-political background – he was a judge of the Bangladesh high court – his age (75) and his health (poor) all conspired against him and Bangladesh. General Ershad may turn out another Ziaur Rahman. But that remains to be seen. At the moment he is an unknown and enigmatic figure. No one is in a position to say whether he is a pro-Awami League nationalist, or a pro-Pakistani fundamentalist. And in the light of his subsequent conduct, it is a mystery why he did not seize power at the time of President Zia’s assassination last May. Was his support for a civilian set-up intended to cover up something?