The only year Bangladesh was truly 'free' was under Khaleda Zia

In Bangladesh's democratic history, there is a single entry that still stands apart. According to "Freedom in the World: The Annual Survey of Political Rights & Civil Liberties 1992-1993" by the Freedom House Survey Team, Bangladesh was categorised as "Free" under the tenure of prime minister Khaleda Zia. 

Before and after that brief window, the country has oscillated between "Partly Free" and "Not Free", never again reclaiming that rare "Free" designation.

To understand why that year mattered, one must return to what came before it. Bangladesh was labelled "Not Free" in 1975, the year Sheikh Mujibur Rahman introduced a one-party state, banning all other political parties. That decision collapsed pluralist politics and set the stage for years of authoritarian rule. The final expression of that era arrived through General HM Ershad, who seized power in a 1982 military coup and ruled until December 1990.

It took nearly eight years of sustained resistance by opposition parties, civil society groups and professional bodies to dislodge Ershad. His resignation on 6 December 1990 marked what Freedom House later described as the true beginning of Bangladesh's democratic journey. 

Within three months, the country held its first genuinely competitive elections on 27 February 1991, observed internationally and "generally free of violence". Citizens changed their government through the ballot box, not the barracks.

The BNP, led by Khaleda Zia, emerged with 138 seats, forming a government with parliamentary support. In September 1991, a national referendum saw 84 per cent of voters approve a return to a Westminster-style parliamentary system, dismantling the over-centralised presidency and restoring executive accountability to parliament.

Khaleda Zia became the country's first female prime minister, presiding over what many would later call a democratic honeymoon.

Freedom House's 1992-93 report captured that atmosphere with unusual clarity. It noted that "Bangladesh continued its relatively smooth democratic transition in 1992 under prime minister Khaleda Zia". In and outside parliament, ruling and opposition parties avoided major confrontations. Contentious issues arose, but dialogue prevailed. Law-enforcement agencies were not routinely deployed to crush dissent. The judiciary, while burdened by backlogs and corruption, was deemed independent. Freedom of association was respected in practice.

Perhaps most striking was the revival of the press. "The press has operated with a new vigour since Ershad's fall," the report observed. By then, Bangladesh had 119 daily newspapers, 444 weeklies and more than 300 magazines, most launched after the 1991 elections. This expansion of public discourse was central to the country's classification as "Free", even though its political rights and civil liberties scores – 2 and 3, respectively acknowledged lingering flaws.

Those flaws were real. The Special Powers Act of 1974 remained in force, allowing detention without charge. Campus violence claimed 80 student lives in a single year. The Chittagong Hill Tracts insurgency, refugee inflows of Rohingya Muslims from Burma, and the unresolved plight of Bihari Muslims tested the state's capacity. 

Economic reforms under IMF guidance unfolded alongside recovery from the devastating 1991 typhoon that killed 1,39,000 people.

Still, in 1992-93, Bangladesh crossed a threshold it has never crossed again. By 1993-94, Freedom House downgraded the country to "Partly Free", citing increased abuses by police and security forces. That status has endured, in various forms, ever since.

History, measured carefully, leaves little ambiguity. The only time Bangladesh was considered truly free was during Khaleda Zia's early tenure as an uncompromising, transitional moment when democracy briefly aligned with institutional restraint. In a country still searching for that balance, the record of 1992-93 remains both a benchmark and a reminder of what once seemed possible.