The Election Commission in Bangladesh is apparently in good company, discussing “reforms” with ultra-right Islamist parties while plots are being designed to dismantle their mainstream, pro-democracy, secular counterparts.

Islami Oikko Jote (IOJ) was the first in line to be invited by the Election Commissioners (ECs) to discuss various aspects of election reform (including the reforms within political parties). The EC must be going from least to most important of the parties, considering that the IOJ won only 2 seats (out of 300) during 2001 parliamentary election.

Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, the current chairman of IOJ was among the 10 people that met with the ECs on Wednesday, September 12. Amini later told BBC that he was turned off by the rule that one-third of the party committee seats should be filled by women members at all levels. He said it was not possible to allot 33% of the committee seats to women, considering the social and cultural reality of Bangladesh. IOJ opposed the proposal of using transparent ballot box for the polling, and proposed to increase the election expenses and reduce the party registration fees and made several other suggestions to EC.

What are the implications of sending an IOJ member to the parliament to represent a constituent? Their mandate pretty much revolves around fatwa, shariah, islamization of Bangladesh etc. Not that there is anything wrong in preaching one

The regular evening news in Bangladesh on September 9 was interrupted to carry live the speech delivered Chief Advisor (CA) of the Caretaker Government (CTG) of Bangladesh Fakhruddin Ahmed. Dr. Ahmed addressed the nation and revealed some very important decisions made by the CTG. Note that there was no prior announcement of this speech. The program was broadcast by Bangladesh Television (BTV) and simultaneously transmitted by other private channels.

I have to say the style and delivery of a speech by a head of the government had never been better or more eloquent. The well orchestrated speech clearly indicated that lots of thought had been put into preparing the speech, and there has been a deliberate effort made to address some of the allegations of torture and intimidation alleged by international human rights groups and journalists .

I am going to highlight a few of the issues the CA mentioned in his speech. The most anticipated one is obviously the lifting of ban on indoor politics. Before the foot soldiers of the political parties get too excited with their agenda, they should know there have been some restrictions imposed on the indoor politics (thence the term relaxed ban on indoor politics) :

• a political party may hold meetings of its forums to discuss only its organizational reforms and the Election Commission’s (EC) proposal for electoral reforms
• a political party may hold the meetings at its central office, hotels, restaurants, auditoriums, and residences of its members, but it will have to inform the Dhaka Metropolitan Police in advance about the meetings.
• a political party may hold the meetings only in the capital as the ban on indoor politics remains in the rest of the country
• according to the notification, which was issued amending a provision of the Emergency Power Rules, a maximum of 50 leaders may meet at a time. If the number of attendees at a meeting is to exceed 50, the party will have to take prior permission from the home ministry
• a political party may also hold its council to bring reforms to itself with prior permission from the home ministry.
• those who will violate the restrictions will be punished with prison terms of two years to five years and fines.

It is conceivable that after eight months of gag order the political leaders are fully charged to launch their election campaigns and come up with party platforms. But who will lead these campaigns? The top leaders of the two major parties are sitting in special jails, without any possibility of obtaining bail any time soon, leaving their parties in serious rifts. Many of the former political front runners are either detained awaiting formal charges, or absconding justice or charged with petty crimes such as “keeping alcoholic beverages in their home without proper liquor license”. So it played according to the CTG’s plan of political purging in Bangladesh very well.

In his speech, Dr. Ahmed also mentioned that reform proposals of the Election Commission that already received nods from Civil Society and professional groups will soon be discussed with the political parties (or what is left of them) beginning as early as September 12. Considering how little objections we have seen from the civil society group over the last eight months on CTG