Moral defeat for AL
H. Taufiq Choudhury New York, NY 10268
Everyone who sought a level playing field for the Awami League in the coming elections must feel disgusted by its pact with the Khelafat Majlis. I am not a purist or an idealist completely out of touch with reality. Therefore, I accepted, albeit unhappily, the AL's entering into an understanding with the former dictator Ershad's Jatiya Party. However, the AL's pact with Khelafat Majlis makes me wonder if it's really worth the effort to fight for the AL's right to a level playing field - after all, the fatwas it guaranteed are sure to trample the rights of thousands of Bangladeshis--mainly the minorities, women and the disadvantaged. Your newspaper reports bear witness to this fact. Moreover, as justice Rabbani pointed out in an op-ed column in the daily Prothom Alo, fatwas usurp the reserved and exclusive powers of the courts to provide legal dispensation. In agreeing to the right to issue fatwas by the clergy, in one single act the AL showed its willingness to further compromise the sanctity and effectiveness of a judicial system already weakened by abuses. I suspect that the AL leadership has seriously offended a large segment of the electorate that would have liked it to win in the forthcoming elections. In my judgment, the momentum up until now was in their party's favour. But the deplorable pact with Khelafat Majlis will probably cost it that segment's sympathy and support. And even if the AL were to win in the vote count, to many of us it has already conceded a significant moral defeat.
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