32 years have gone by since our national leaders made a pledge to make Bangladesh a democracy where the fundamental rights of the people would be protected, and the judiciary’s independence and neutrality and rule of law would be guaranteed. Laws contrary to fundamental rights would be scrapped. Their core pledge was to establish a sovereign parliament elected through a free and fair election.  Those commitments were made in the Joint declaration of three alliances on November 19, 1990, demanding the end of military ruler General HM Ershad’s dictatorial regime and handing over power to a neutral caretaker government. This national accord among all major political parties forced Ershad to hand over power to the nominee of the opposition parties, the then Chief Justice Shahbuddin Ahmed. High hopes and expectations dominated our national psyche for the first few years, but it didn’t take too long for our politicians to start backsliding on the promises they had made.  The ...