President Iajuddin Ahmed resigned from the post of Chief Advisor to the caretaker government and declared emergency in Bangladesh for the first time in 16 years since 1990. In Bangladesh, like India, emergency can be declared in times of war or external aggression and internal disturbances that imperil the security and economic life of the state. The president proclaimed that "a grave emergency" existed due to internal disturbances, threatening the security and economy of the country. Nine out of ten advisors also resigned, rendering the caretaker government completely non-functional.

           However, the President did not waste any time in reconstituting the interim government and instated Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, a Princeton-educated, former governor of Bangladesh Bank as its Chief Advisor on 13 January 2007. Evidently, Dr. Ahmed is a compromise candidate as his appointment came after negotiations between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) coalition and Awami League-led alliance.

President Iajuddin's decision to resign as the chief advisor and to declare emergency, was a result of intense deliberations between the caretaker government, political parties and other stake holders. It was deemed as the best possible solution in the debilitating political scenario. The President had been in the line of fire ever since he unconstitutionally instated himself as the Chief Advisor on 29 October 2006. This was made possible due to the connivance of the President and the BNP, making the political allegiance of the former evidently clear. He refused to initiate measures for removing the anomalies in the voters list and turned a blind eye to the demand of the Awami League alliance to depoliticize the administration. This along with the rejection of H M Ershad's nomination papers prompted the Awami League alliance to boycott the general elections.

With the proclamation of emergency, the fundamental rights of the people namely, freedom of movement (Article 36), of assembly (Article 37), of association (Article 38), of thought, consciousness and speech (Article 39) and of profession or occupation (Article 40) have been suspended. The media in Bangladesh has been directed to refrain from criticizing the government. The eight private media channels have been prohibited from broadcasting news that is critical of the prevalent situation, allowing only news from the state-run Bangladesh Television to be beamed through them.

Bangladesh is under tremendous pressure from its donors and aid agencies to ensure all party participation in the polls in order for it to be credible. The United Nations has suspended all technical support to the elections. It has also warned the Bangladeshi Army that its involvement in a one-sided election "may have implications for Bangladesh's future role in peacekeeping operations." The European Union has suspended its Elections Observation Mission and has said that it will "reassess" its relationship with Bangladesh.

According to the constitution, the general elections must be held within 90 days of the dissolution of the parliament. Since the caretaker government took charge on 29 October, the elections have to be held by 25 January 2007. So what are the options for the interim government?

The first and foremost requirement is to revoke the emergency, as no election in a democracy should be held under the fear of the state. Second, the general elections should be postponed. The caretaker government can and should seek explanation of the constitutional provisions from the Supreme Court for the extension of the deadline for holding the elections as mandated by the constitution. Interestingly, the 90-day rule is relaxed for by-elections. This is crucial if a repeat of one party election in 1996 has to be avoided, as it is sure to spell doom for the political future of Bangladesh.

Third, no matter how difficult, time-consuming and expensive an exercise it is, correction of voters list will have to be done. The Election Commission has planned to use three voters list - the list of 2000, the second list that was prepared by updating the 2000 list and has an excess of approximately 13 million voters and the third one that was updated from in December 2006. The third list has names of under-aged people and is alleged to have excluded the names of members of the minority communities. In addition, the Election Commission should be reconstituted so that it can regain its credibility and dignity.

           Last, there has to be a cessation of confrontational politics and mounting political violence over the last six months. The Awami League-led alliance cannot abdicate its responsibility by making the caretaker government responsible for all that has gone wrong in the last two months. Their demands are valid and necessary for credible elections but their 'politics of the street' has to end. It has not only rendered distraught the ordinary citizens of Bangladesh, it has cost many people their lives. This is a historic opportunity for the Awami League to provide the leadership and a vision that Bangladesh desperately needs today.