Victory Day is celebrated in Bangladesh with great rejoicing. Blood, sweat and tears went in profusion in bringing about the birth of a new nation in 1971. This year Victory Day proved an exception. Weeks before the celebration, the country was in the grip of violence and virtually total anarchy. The immediate future also looks grim. The chaos has been created by the personal rivalry between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and Opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia. The government in Dhaka seems determined to put on trial the criminals in the liberation war in 1971. The Prime Minister is fully aware of the consequences of the move. Many of the war criminals had been protected by previous regimes in Dhaka. They even held influential positions in political parties. Some were in the army and the diplomatic services. But Sheikh Hasina is prepared to face the risk of putting them on trial.
The Opposition is up in arms against the Awami League government. It is alleged that Hasina has imposed an undeclared emergency in the country and gagged criticism of her governance. Recent events in Bangladesh however, do not justify the accusation. The Opposition parties are at liberty to protest and agitate. The violence which has recently swept over Bangladesh has been wrought by the Opposition. It shows that the Bangladesh Nationalist Party is not in chains. The situation is taking an ugly turn. The Opposition demands that the next Parliamentary elections should be held with a caretaker government in the hot seat and not the incumbent Awami League government. It is a pity that Khaleda Zia did not try to win her case in Parliament. Street politics is back. All this cast a dark shadow over this year’s Victory Day in Bangladesh.