Dhaka press questions rulers' judgement

Many Dhaka newspapers questioned the ruling party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party's motives for such a decision.

Describing the decision as "preposterous", The Daily Star says, "Their line of reasoning sounds as preposterous as their demand itself."

The paper says the ruling party is holding the out-going president's neutrality against him while it ought to be the other way round.

It says, "The ruling party itself should be the beneficiary of the reflected glory."

'Impudent' MPs

A Bengali daily, Prothom Alo,speaks of the parliamentarians as, "The seemingly worked up BNP MPs have no idea as to what parliamentary democracy is about and what the role of the constitutional President is."

Ittefaq, the largest circulated daily in the country, along with most other papers is taken aback by BNP's decision to impeach the President if he refused to resign.

It said, "Most ruling party MPs have no idea about what the right language in which to talk about the country's president is."

The Daily Star says, "The new young MPs in BNP have scaled new heights in impudence thereby leaving the nation bewildered and guessing about what they might be up to."

This view is reflected in the coverage by other papers such as The Independent and The Bangladesh Observer, which did not carry any separate editorial comments.

Unique incident

Janakantha, says, "There has not been another incident, anywhere among democratic nations, where a President was asked to resign on such trivial accusations."

Most papers are questioning the nature of Bangladesh's democracy.

As The Daily Star says in its editorial, "Just as we need to separate the government from party in a truly functioning democracy, so also it is essential that a ruling party does not confuse institutions with individuals.

"The presidency as an institution needs to be upheld in the best interest of the state."

Professor Badruddoza Chowdhury was elected president uncontested for a five-year term on 14 November 2001.

He was nominated by the BNP, which, in alliance with three other right-wing parties, came to power after winning general elections last October.

Correspondents say that hard-line elements within the BNP had been unhappy for some time with the president's attempts to play a more neutral role in Bangladeshi politics.