Detaining Mirza Fakhrul ahead of elections was not wise

Everyone understands that the country's political situation is heading towards a disaster. Although I remain busy with writing books and all, as a conscious citizen, I have no other way but to stay informed about the ongoing situation; especially since I am researching the significance of the new polarisation of global geopolitics for the least developed countries. But that is not the subject of this writing. 

I am not in a position to make an observation regarding the situation on behalf of the civil society. But I felt that detaining Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir ahead of the elections was not wise. Among political leaders of both the main parties, perhaps it was him who continuously spoke in favour of peaceful protests and refrained from saying anything that might cause conflict. Seeing from the outside and hearing his statements, it seems that he wants to avoid any conflict and only attain his party's goals through a spontaneous uprising; whether he will succeed in doing so is another thing. Even if he has some secret political activities, we cannot comment on that. We can only judge him based on what is visible. 

On the contrary, if you see the media statements made by many leaders from both parties, instead of peaceful protests, you will see more of a 'fighting' attitude. During such a state, removing Mirza Fakhrul from the scene means increasing the chance of conflict. Of course, how much control he can exercise over his party is something a politically inexperienced person like me would not know. We cannot even keep track of the conspiracies within the country or outside. But looking at everything, the absence of a main political leader like Fakhrul, who has a declared 'non-violent' position, will not help in improving the current political conflict. 

Whether the ongoing political conflict will be resolved peacefully or not will decide the future of the country's economy, how strong the inflationary pressure on people with fixed income will be, how long the country's economic progress can be sustained and whether we can move towards a democratic system at all. 

Detaining Mirza Fakhrul may not seem so important in a larger context, but it will not be surprising if this acts as a catalyst for something bigger. It may be good for the country's political culture to let him continue his streak of non-violent politics.

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The author is an economist and a former adviser of caretaker government. The article was taken from his Facebook wall.