Moeen U Ahmed

2006–08 Bangladeshi political crisis

US Navy Adm. Timothy J. Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, and Gen. Moeen U Ahmed, Chief of Army Staff of the Bangladesh Army, attend a press conference after meeting at Army Headquarters

Moeen was the key force behind the declaration of emergency in the country on 11 January 2007 widely known as 1/11 phenomenon.^[7] He upgraded his rank from Lt. General to General during his illegal tenure when there was no regular government; the caretaker government is not mandated to work other than routine work and managing parliamentary elections. He also extended his tenure of army chief, which is fixed for a time period, for one year in same way.^[8] He has been accused of playing a controversial role by helping the caretaker government of Bangladesh to retain power after constitution stipulated three months' duration. Although never publicly admitted, he has been identified as the main driving force behind the non-elected government but he has also been praised for arranging voter ID cards before 29 December 2008. He and the government has been accused domestically and globally to de-politicise the country. Hundreds of political figures, including two ex-prime ministers, ministers, lawmakers and local government heads, have been imprisoned by the regime accusing them of corruption.^[9] Although some of these figures were notoriously corrupt, most of them do not have any specific allegation against them. The regime's anti-corruption drive has been widely praised and criticized around the globe. Reacting his political statement Sheikh Hasina said if you have ambition to do politics come without uniform.

However, General Moeen engineered numerous controversies during his tenure. Some quarters also hold him liable for defaming military while he was in charge of enhancing its fame. He although had been known as a moderate-minded officer, his final role had earned him more of bad names than the opposite.^[10][11][12] Extra-military role of the army that he presided over for two years yielded many immediate troubles for the military. The most prominent being killing of 57 military officers by the border guards of the country. General Moeen heard to have said that tragic killings of so many officers led him even to a suicide thought.^[13][14] The mutineers identified their grievances to have been resulted from shop-keeper role that they were told perform. This deterred their soldierly pride. Lack of far-sightedness regarding running of state-affairs channelled him to choose methods which were tremendously infantile ^[15]

Political involvement

General Moeen attempted to strike deals with political leaders in order to secure support for his regime. Former President Hussain Muhammad Earshad who remained generally at unease during the rule of Sheikh Hasina and on toes during the rule of Khaled Zia, was at comfort at this time indicating a deal between the two generals ^[16] During this period Professor Yunus got Nobel Peace Prize and soon he was offered to head caretaker government. Though Professor Yunus declined to accept the offer but soon he launched his programme for creating a political party. Professor Yunus did not however take time to cease his political initiative. He indicated that those who supported him in his idea did not come forward when he needed them. It is widely perceived that General Moeen could be a key patron in sowing political seed in the mind of the Nobel laureate in his bid to creating alternative to the decades-long political hierarchy. General Moeen however relied upon notable editors like Matiur Rahman, Mahfuz Anam and A M M Bahauddin. Although Mahfuz Anam later in 2017 regretted his foul play but it backfired with almost a century of cases filed against him for this confessional misjudgment. Nothing so far has come to be seen with the rest two editors as how they would compensate their relation with General Moeen.^[17] It is widely perceived that they helped General Moeen in implementing 'Minus Two Formula' a popular name for an attempt made by General Moeen to end political career of former Prime Ministers Begum Khaled Zia and Sheikh Hasina^[18] General Moeen by going beyond his professional bounds published a book that heavily contained his unripe political thought ^[19] In the book he gave formula of his own devised democracy. Such prescription on politics by a serving General is beyond his professional entitlement and thus is punishable in Bangladesh Army as with any other armies.^[20] General Moeen however could grab power with ease as he cleverly kept most structure intact including incumbent physically fragile President in power^[14][21][22] His ascending to power became further easy for the tacit international support that he enjoyed through the diplomats who were then in Dhaka.^{[23] [24] [25]} He although seemed initially to have been imitating other military dictators hoping to turn into a civilian head of state but later it was revealed that his ambition was examplerily low. He merely wanted to go on retirement after completing his normal tenure. The fact was denuded by Indian President Pranab Mukharjee in his autobiography published in 2017. President Mukharjee explained how General Moeen lowered him before a foreign President to merely save his job and in turn how the President assured and secured his job from Sheikh Hasina. Many critics view this particular behaviour of General Moeen as treacherous. The relegation of ambition could be due to the clumsy realities that he soon started to realize that his whole move could end in an indigestible political career as opposed to his smooth military career.^[26][27][28] Moreover, contribution of diplomats in the disrepute that General Moeen earned was also substantial. Their involvement in domestic politics had gone beyond diplomatic norms in which they seemed to have connived with General Moeen which also induced in him a political ambition. ^{[29] [30] [31]}

Minus-Two and Wikileaks

While it is clear that the advisors were merely a facade in order to camouflage an otherwise military regime, the main players of the minus-two formula were a few army officers, media personalities and political leaders of the two major political parties namely BNP and Awami League. Interesting some of these political leaders who corroborated with the army in implementing minus two were in the cabinet that followed post election. Some joined the political parties as member of parliament.

According to US Embassy cables:"A few months before their arrest, the then army chief Moeen U Ahmed said reforms in political parties were essential but difficult to carry out with Hasina or Khaleda in Bangladesh, according to another cable sent by the then US ambassador Patricia A Butenis on April 22, 2007."

“Moeen said senior Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders met recently with government officials and decided that [BNP Chairperson Khaleda] Zia must go,” said the cable Butenis wrote citing discussion with Moeen. Awami League chief Hasina, who left for the US on March 15, 2007, was indefinitely barred from returning and Khaleda was expected to depart for Saudi Arabia shortly, she added.

Although the caretaker government legislations and executive actions were most repealed, and political leaders claimed it was unconstitutional, the election that was held under the caretaker government was considered legitimate obviously by the winning party.

^[32]