Bangladesh's
army chief vowed to back the country's interim government "come what
may" to help it complete key reforms after the ouster of Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina, so that elections could be held within the next 18 months.
General
Waker-uz-Zaman and his troops stood aside in
early August amid raging student-led protests against Hasina, sealing the fate
of the veteran politician who resigned after 15 years in power and fled to
neighbouring India.
In a rare
media interview, Zaman told Reuters at his office in the capital Dhaka on
Monday that the interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus had
his full support and outlined a pathway to rid the military of political
influence.
"I will
stand beside him. Come what may. So that he can accomplish his mission,"
Zaman, bespectacled and dressed in military fatigues, said of Yunus.
The pioneer
of the global microcredit movement, Yunus has promised to carry out essential
reforms to the judiciary, police and financial institutions, paving the way to
hold a free and fair election in the country of 170 million people.
Following
the reforms, Zaman - who took over as the army chief only weeks before Hasina's
ouster - said a transition to democracy should be made between a year and a
year-and-a-half, but underlined the need for patience.
"If you
ask me, then I will say that should be the time frame by which we should enter
into a democratic process," he said.
Bangladesh's
main two political parties, Hasina's Awami League and its bitter rival
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, had both previously
called for elections to be held within three months of the
interim government taking office in August.
Yunus, the
interim administration's chief adviser, and the army chief meet every week and
have "very good relations", with the military supporting the
government's efforts to stabilise the country after a period of turmoil, said
Zaman.
"I'm
sure that if we work together, there is no reason why we should fail," he
said.
More
than 1,000 people
were killed in violent clashes that began as a movement against
public sector job quotas in July but escalated into a wider anti-government
uprising - the bloodiest period in the country's independent history.
Calm has
returned to the teeming streets of Dhaka, a densely packed metropolis that was
at the heart of the rebellion, but some parts of the civil service are not yet
properly functional after the dramatic fall of Hasina's administration.
With much of
Bangladesh's police, numbering around 190,000 personnel, still in disarray, the
army has stepped up to carry out law and order duties nationwide.
PUNISHMENTS
AND REFORMS
Born out of
erstwhile East Pakistan in 1971 after a bloody independence war, Bangladesh
came under military rule in 1975, following the assassination of its first
prime minister, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina's father.
In 1990, the
country's military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad was toppled in a popular
uprising, leading to the restoration of democracy.
The military
again staged a coup in 2007, backing a caretaker government that ruled until
Hasina took power two years later.
A career
infantry officer who served through these periods of turmoil, Zaman said that
the Bangladesh Army that he leads would not intervene politically.
"I will
not do anything which is detrimental to my organisation," he said, "I
am a professional soldier. I would like to keep my army professional."
In line with
sweeping government reforms proposed since Hasina was shunted from power, the
army, too, is looking into allegations of wrongdoing by its personnel and has
already punished some soldiers, Zaman said, without providing further details.
"If
there is any serving member who is found guilty, of course I will take
action," he said, adding that some military officials may have acted out
of line while working at agencies directly controlled by the former prime
minister or interior minister.
The interim
government has formed a five-member commission, headed by a former high court
judge, to investigate reports of up to 600 people who may have been forcibly
"disappeared" by Bangladesh's security forces since
2009.
In the
longer-term, however, Zaman wanted to distance the political establishment from
the army, which has more than 130,000 personnel and is a major contributor to
United Nations peacekeeping missions.
"It can
only happen if there is some balance of power between president and prime
minister, where the armed forces can be placed directly under president,"
he said.
Bangladesh's
armed forces currently come under the defence ministry, which is typically
controlled by the prime minister, an arrangement that Zaman said a
constitutional reform process under the interim government could potentially
look to amend.
"The
military as a whole must not be used for political purpose ever," he said.
"A soldier must not indulge in politics."