Bangladesh

Ploughing rice fields in Bangladesh. The countryside is typified by extensive flood plains cultivated with rice, but with a rising population density the pressure on limited land resources is high. Rice fields are growing smaller and farmers find it difficult to produce enough food and generate sufficient income to support their families. Proposed solutions include more intensive and integrated farming, for example introducing fish cultivation.

The sprawling city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Dhaka is host to a great concentration of industry, as well as the traditional silk, jewellery, and embroidery trade. It is also home to the University of Dhaka, founded in 1921.

Country in southern Asia, bounded north, west, and east by India, southeast by Myanmar, and south by the Bay of Bengal.

Government

Bangladesh has a parliamentary democracy, under its 1972 constitution (which was suspended 1982–91). There is a single-chamber legislature, the house of the nation (Jatiya Sangsad), comprising 300 members directly elected for five-year terms and 45 seats reserved women. A prime minister and cabinet is drawn from the grouping which commands a majority within the parliament. The president, who has a largely ceremonial role, is elected by the parliament every five years.

History

For history before 1947 see India; for history 1947–71 see Pakistan. Present-day Bangladesh formerly comprised East Bengal province and the Sylhet district of Assam in British India. Predominantly Muslim, it was formed into the eastern province of Pakistan when India was partitioned 1947. Substantially different in culture, language, and geography from the western provinces of Pakistan 1,600 km/1,000 mi away, and with a larger population, it resented the political and military dominance exerted by West Pakistan during the 1950s and 1960s. A movement for political autonomy grew after 1954, under the Awami League (AL) headed by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This gained strength as a result of West Pakistan's indifference 1970, when flooding killed 500,000 in East Pakistan.

Republic proclaimed in 1971

In Pakistan's first general elections, in 1970, the AL gained an overwhelming victory in East Pakistan and an overall majority in the all-Pakistan National Assembly. Talks on redrawing the constitution broke down, leading to East Pakistan's secession and the establishment of a Bangladesh (‘Bengal nation’) government in exile in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India, 1971. Civil war resulted in the flight of 10 million East Pakistani refugees to India, administrative breakdown, famine, and cholera. The West Pakistani forces in East Pakistan surrendered 1971 after India intervened on the secessionists' side. A republic of Bangladesh was proclaimed and rapidly gained international recognition 1972.

First leader assassinated in 1975

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became prime minister 1972 under a secular, parliamentary constitution. He introduced a socialist economic programme of nationalization but became intolerant of opposition, establishing a one-party presidential system January 1975. Rahman, his wife, and close relatives were assassinated in a military coup August 1975; in November 1998 a Dacca court sentenced 15 former army officers to death for plotting the assassination.

Martial law in 1976 under Zia

Maj-Gen Zia ur-Rahman (1936–1981) became chief martial-law administrator 1976. President from 1977, he adopted an Islamic constitution and, after his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a parliamentary majority, martial law and the state of emergency were lifted 1979. The administration was undermined, however, by charges of corruption and by a guerrilla movement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts 1980, and on 30 May 1981 Zia was assassinated.

Coup in 1982 led by Ershad

With disorder increasing, the civilian administration was overthrown March 1982 by Lt-Gen Muhammad Hussain Ershad. Martial law was reimposed and political activity banned. Under Ershad, the economy improved but a broad opposition coalition, the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy, developed.

Contentious elections in 1986

The ban on political activity was removed January 1986. In parliamentary elections held in May, Ershad's Jatiya Dal party gained a two-thirds majority after a substantial opposition boycott. Ershad was re-elected president in a direct election October 1986, and martial law was lifted November 1986.

Opposition to government

During 1987 the AL, led by Sheika Hasina Wazed (the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman), and the BNP, led by Begum Khaleda Zia (the widow of Maj-Gen Zia ur-Rahman), stepped up their campaign against the Ershad government, demanding the president's resignation and free elections. In the wake of a wave of violent strikes and demonstrations, Ershad proclaimed a state of emergency in November 1987. In fresh elections in March 1988, as a result of both ballot-rigging and an opposition boycott, the ruling Jatiya Dal gained a sweeping victory. The state of emergency was lifted April 1988, and a bill was passed by parliament June 1988 making Islam the state religion.

Chittagong Hill Tracts

The Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) approved legislation in 1989 devolving power to directly elected, substantially autonomous councils in three Chittagong Hill Tract districts in southeastern Bangladesh, where the indigenous people had fought a 14-year resistance struggle led by the Shanti Bahini (‘peace force’) organization against settlers protected by the army.

Ershad resigns in 1990

On 4 December 1990, after a protracted campaign for the government's removal, Ershad resigned and the state of emergency was lifted, parliament dissolved, and Shahabuddin Ahmad, the country's chief justice, became interim executive president. Police raids on Ershad's residence revealed large-scale corruption, for which he was imprisoned.

Free elections in 1991 won by BNP

When multiparty elections were held February 1991, the BNP emerged as the dominant force, capturing 140 of the 300 seats. Begum Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP, formed a coalition government, becoming the first woman prime minister of Bangladesh.

Parliamentary government restored

In late July 1991, the new government, rocked by a cyclone disaster, introduced a deregulationary New Industrial Policy to boost private enterprise and encourage foreign investment. A nationwide referendum September 1991 restored a parliamentary system of government, and in the same month by-elections secured an absolute majority in parliament for the BNP. Begum Khaleda Zia became prime minister. In October 1991 parliament elected its speaker Abdur Rahman Biswas to succeed Shahabuddin Ahmad as state president.

Government bows to opposition pressure

From March 1994, following accusations of government vote-rigging in recent by-elections, the opposition AL boycotted parliament and organized street protests. In reaction to a radio interview in which author Taslima Nasreen called for a revision of Koranic texts to meet contemporary needs, there were further demonstrations and a nationwide general strike, with Islamic fundamentalist groups urging the government to impose Islamic law (sharia) and to expel Western aid workers. In December 1994 Prime Minister Zia bowed to opposition pressure and agreed to resign prior to the 1996 elections. Opposition-orchestrated hartals (political strikes) continued, with general strikes in Dhaka March and December 1995. The elections, planned for January 1996, were postponed, following AL demands that Zia hand over power to a neutral interim authority to avoid a recurrence of government vote-rigging. In March 1996 Zia resigned, and a caretaker government stepped in.

Sheika Hasina becomes prime minister in 1996

At the general election in June 1996, the AL, led by Sheika Hasina Wazed, the daughter of Mujibur Rahman, emerged victorious and formed a government. Following by-elections in September 1996 the AL achieved a clear parliamentary majority. In November 1996, the BNP began an indefinite boycott of parliament when new investigations by the government into the murders of August 1975 raised concerns about Hasina's political motives. President Shahabuddin Ahmed agreed to mediate between the two sides.

Corruption

Former president and continuing leader of the Jatiya Dal party, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, was released from prison on bail by the Supreme Court January 1997. He was fined US$1 million and sentenced to five years' imprisonment for corruption by the Dhaka High Court in August 2000. In August 1998 corruption charges were filed against former prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia.

National strikes 1998–2000

During October 1998 and November 1998, at the same time that rural Bangladesh was suffering from severe flood damage, a BNP-led seven-party opposition alliance, which included the Jatiya Dal (JD) and Jamaat-I-Islami party, held violent general strikes, in which seven people were killed, as part of its campaign to oust the Awami League government of Sheika Hasina. In February 2000 business in Bangladesh was halted by strikes again. The opposition called for protests against government legislation designed to prevent street disorder. At least one person was killed in the capital when home-made bombs were detonated at a strike with the aim of forcing an early election.

In June 2001, three people were arrested after a bomb killed 22 at an AL meeting. Prime Minister Sheika Hasina blamed the blast on her political rivals, accusing them of trying to disrupt democracy and halt Bangladesh's progress towards development.

Khaleda Zia back in power 2001–06

After five years in power, longer than any other leader in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Hasina left office in July 2001, and a caretaker administration ran the country until the general election of October 2001. The BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, won 45% of the vote and a two-thirds majority in parliament, after an election campaign marred by violence which claimed 85 lives.

Khaleda Zia's third term was marred by mounting corruption in government, religious militancy, and terrorism. There was rioting in the capital at the end of her term in office, in October 2006, and Iajuddin Ahmed, the president since 2002, became head of a caretaker government.

Military back in power 2007–

In January 2007, the military imposed a state of emergency and Dr Fakhrudden Ahmed, the former governor of Bangladesh's central bank, took over as head of the caretaker government. The new administration launched a crackdown against rising anarchy and corruption, and in March 2007 arrested one of Khaleda Zia's sons on corruption charges. In April 2007, the military reached agreement with Khaleda Zia to go into exile in Saudi Arabia and barred Sheikh Hasina, who was in the USA, from returning to Bangladesh.

Foreign relations

Bangladesh has remained a member of the Commonwealth since 1972. Heavily dependent on foreign economic aid, it has, however, pursued a broader policy of the non-aligned movement. Relations with India deteriorated from 1975 as a result of disputes over the sharing of the River Ganges water and the annual influx of 200,000 Bangladeshi refugees in Assam and West Bengal, which prompted India to threaten to construct a frontier fence. In 1992 Bangladesh became a refuge for around 60,000 Muslims fleeing military crackdowns in Myanmar. The influx caused a further drain on the country's already scanty resources. In December 1996 a 30-year agreement on the equal sharing of water from the River Ganges was signed with India.

Living standards

Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world, with more than 2,600 people per sq mi. Only 15% of the people live in urban areas; 33% of the population is under 15, and 75% of women have their first child by the age of 17. There is an estimated one doctor for every 9,000 people and one nurse for every 20,000. Since the early 1980s claims have been made that the majority of the drinking water in the country was contaminated by arsenic, as a result of the tubewells program established in 1972 by international aid agencies which was supposed to guarantee safe drinking water, but instead bored down to a subterranean layer of arsenic. It was estimated that, in 1998, 75 million people were at risk from arsenic poisoning.

Natural disasters

Around 139,000 people were killed and thousands more threatened by epidemics after the devastating cyclone of 29–30 April 1991, which severely affected the area around Chittagong. Between 4 million and 10 million people were made homeless and 1,300,000 sq km/500,000 sq mi was inundated. In September 1998 floods caused $900 million of damage and killed 1,300 people. Floods in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal in September and early October 2000 killed at least 800 people, and affected 17 million people. Many were marooned as the water level rose to 6 m/20 ft above its normal level.

Bangladesh (redirected from Bengladesh)