ISAS Briefs

Not too many Grecian analogies can be drawn with regard to the tumultuous on - going turmoil in Bangladesh which passes for politics. However, one expression, borrowed from the ancient classics, could be apt while describing the 'battle of the two Begums' ( Sheikh Hasina, the Prime Minister who heads the Awami League, and Khaleda Zia, leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which is the principal political opposition, operating not within but outside the Parliament having boycotted the elections of 5 Janu ary 2014). It is: "When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war". In the seemingly irresolvable tugging of the rope between the two leaders, neither appears inclined to give in an inch. Holed up in her city office in Dhaka, Khaleda is bent on bringing the government down from the streets with agitation that grows more violent by the day. The government is equally unrelenting, using force to the maximum, and incarcerating innumerable activists, with or without due process. It is a feud that does not mak e the blindest bit of sense to any observer, domestic or foreign, except to confirm the received wisdom that politics is all about the acquisition of power, by means both fair and foul