Let no military general ever aspire to capture power again

The two recent verdicts nullifying the 5th and 7th amendments to our constitution can definitely be termed as epoch-making. If ever there were moments in our history when pronouncements from the judiciary elevated us, energised us, emboldened us, and above all restored our pride in ourselves, the pronouncements of the aforementioned two judgments were such moments.

The whole nation stand in unison in expressing their unbridled admiration and gratitude to the supreme judiciary for the two historic judgments that not only throws into history's dustbin two very shameful periods of our recent history, but also firmly shuts the door for any future aspirants of illegal power on ever making such effort.

The judgments prove, if proof was ever necessary, that illegality, however powerful and omnipotent it may appear at any given time, will ultimately have to surrender to the will of the people as enshrined in the democratically adopted constitution of any country.

They prove that whatever set back democracy may face in Bangladesh, ultimately only a government elected by the people can have legal power to rule. They nullify any other means of attaining state power.

Those who have lived through Zia and Ershad eras remember well the anguish the democracy loving people of the country suffered. The dream of a Sonar Bangla suddenly felt like a plaything in the hands of ambitious generals who could takeover state power, do whatever they felt like, and then amend the constitution with retrospective effect to give legal cover to their illegal actions.

When Bangladesh was born, it was the dream of every freedom loving Bangalee that ours would be a country where we would never ever have an army rule. We would be fundamentally different than Pakistan in that we would never be governed by an un-elected leadership.

This dream was shattered with the brutal murder of Bangabandhu along with his family, followed by the killing of our four national leaders when Khandaker Moshtaque and a few majors started the politics of killing, and captured power by force.

The arrogant voice of Maj Dalim still resonates in this writer's ears, when he announced in the morning of August 15, 1975, "Sheikh Mujib ke hottya kora hoechey" [Sheikh Mujib has been killed]. Col Taher's so-called Nov 7 uprising brought Ziaur Rahman to power, spilling the blood of many officers and soldiers.

Zia's tenure itself later faced many coup attempts, which were all brutally suppressed, and hundreds of officers and soldiers were court martialled and put to death. Zia himself fell victim to one such coup, and was gunned down in Chittagong. Court martial of his killers led to the deaths of several other officers.

Bangladesh not only saw her democratic dreams evaporating into thin air, she also appeared to have entered into a phase of illegal power grabs, and killings and counter killings. Those who did not live through those days cannot fully appreciate the despondency and frustration suffered by the people at that time.

Of all the actions of Ziaur Rahman, the one for which perhaps he will be most condemned, is the Indemnity Act, by which he gave constitutional protection to self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu. By this single action Gen Zia made Bangladesh perhaps the only country in the world where killers were protected by the country's constitution.

Gen Ershad's capturing of power was a follow through of the politics set afoot by Zia. However, Gen Ershad started in quite a unique way. Few days before he actually replaced the elected government of Justice Sattar, he held a press conference claiming that the constitution should be amended so the army could be given a permanent share in state power, and a say in running the state affairs.

His was a veiled threat, and when Justice Sattar refused to oblige, he tore off that veil and captured power on March 24, 1982. It was rumoured that he wanted to implement an Indonesian or Turkish model of army-civilian rule.

If we take the two generals' regimes together, we can see how slowly but surely Bangladesh moved away from the ideals of our liberation war, and how our dreams of a democratic Bangladesh came crashing down till the mass uprising, that restored democracy in December 1990, started us off on a renewed course towards democracy.

As we congratulate our judiciary for these two momentous verdicts, and once again reaffirm our commitment and determination to strengthen democracy, the most important thing to remember at this moment would be that for democracy to truly flourish we have to build institutions that sustain it.

One such institution is the judiciary itself. We are getting such historic verdicts because we have an independent justice system and highly qualified judges. We must do everything to further enhance both the quality and the prestige of this institution, and the executive branch of state should never interfere in the appointments and promotions of judges.

An important component of institutionalising democracy is a strong, vibrant, freely functioning, independent press. Harnessing it with stringent contempt rulings is not helpful, and cannot truly reflect the fundamental values expressed in the two judgments discussed above.

We must do everything to further strengthen all constitutional bodies, and also ensure their quality and independence. The newly formed Information Commission, and Human Rights Commission must be allowed full independence to operate. We must fully allow the oversight functions of all parliamentary standing committees.

Key for a transparent and accountable government is to allow the check and balance mechanism, inbuilt in a democratic system, to function properly.

Only then we will enjoy the fruits of the two momentous judgments.

-Daily Star