US embassy cable - 05DHAKA195

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000195 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, BG 
SUBJECT: THE RETURN AND DEPARTURE OF SHEIKH HASINA'S 
PRODIGAL SON 
 
Classified By: P/E Counselor D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.5 D. 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Joy's three-week homecoming generated mixed 
feelings within the AL and little noticeable enthusiasm 
elsewhere.  Pro-AL businessmen advised Joy, and his mother, 
to be patient with his political aspirations.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Awami League president Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajib 
Wazed Joy, accompanied by his American citizen wife, returned 
to Bangladesh on December 22 to a flower-strewn Bengali 
welcome by party faithful at the airport. This was Joy's 
first visit to Bangladesh since 2000, when his mother was 
still Prime Minister, and the first for his wife, whom he 
married in October 2003. 
 
3. (SBU) Some AL supporters expressed the hope that Joy would 
use his return to announce his formal launching in 
Bangladeshi politics, both to revitalize the AL and to stand 
as an alternative to Tariq Rahman, Prime Minister Zia's son 
and heir apparent.  When asked about his political interests, 
however, Joy publicly responded, "I am yet to take any 
decision in this regard.  In fact, I have come to show my 
wife my country, my motherland.  I am ready to do what is 
good for my country." 
 
4. (SBU) Joy made only a few public appearances during his 
three-week stay.  The AL canceled one major event featuring 
Joy outside of Dhaka on the grounds that the BDG refused to 
provide adequate security.  In one widely reported event, his 
wife, a Michigan University Law School graduate, delivered a 
lecture on "Enforcement of Constitutional Rights through the 
Court--U.S. Perspective" at the Supreme Court Bar auditorium, 
reportedly drawing a standing ovation.  (Note: The Supreme 
Court Bar Association has pro-AL leadership.)   On his 
departure from Dhaka on January 7, Joy told the media, "I 
have no intention to be a leader." 
 
5. (C) Awami League Organizing Secretary Akhtaruzzaman Akhtar 
told us that Joy will return to Bangladesh in March to "work 
within the party" in a supporting role.  He predicted that 
Joy would stay for two months before returning to the U.S. 
Asked if Joy would run for a parliamentary seat in the 
general election expected in early 2007, Akhtaruzzaman 
refused to speculate.  If Joy does choose to run, he is 
widely expected to contest in his family areas of Rangpur and 
Gopalganj.  Saber Chowdhury, Political Secretary to Sheikh 
Hasina, discounted to us any notion that Joy would ever run 
for office, but allowed that "things could change." 
 
6. (C) According to two major business leaders with a history 
of backing the AL, they advised Hasina and Joy to be patient 
about the latter's political ambitions, and to avoid actions 
(including hartals) that could create new tension and 
instability.  The AL's best bet, they reportedly said, is to 
wait until 2007 and allow popular disenchantment with the 
status quo, and South Asia's strong anti-incumbent tradition, 
to take its toll on the BNP. 
 
7. (C) Comment: Joy has his work cut out for him if he, or 
his mother, hopes to establish himself as a major political 
player.  His status as Sheikh Mujib's grandson and Hasina's 
son gives him credibility with younger Awami League 
constituencies, but older AL officials are wary of him as a 
potential Tariq Rahmahn-like rival to their own aspirations 
for the next generation of leadership.  Perpetuating 
Bangladesh's debilitating dependence on dynastic politics is 
unlikely to appeal to civil society reformers or to do much 
to promote genuine democracy within the party.  Failing Joy, 
Hasina has one daughter, Saima Hossain Putul, who also lives 
in the U.S.; her name virtually never surfaces in discussions 
on Bangladesh's political future. 
THOMAS