The Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Ito Naoki, stated in Dhaka on November 14, 2022 that the police and other election officials “have stuffed ballot boxes the night before election day” in 2018. He further exclaimed that he had “never heard such things in any other country.” He also hoped that such things never happen again in Bangladesh. The U.S. Country Reports, and those of other international communities, cited similar serious malpractices in the Bangladesh elections of 2008, 2014 and 2018.
Elections in Bangladesh under the “illegal” administration of Sheikh Hasina have become farcical, a virtual “selection” process in which outsiders have rarely been allowed to win. Over the past 14 years under Sheikh Hasina, the opposition, particularly the largest Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), had been destroyed and reduced to a mere name.
Foreign envoys in Dhaka, led by the United States’ Peter Haas, have been strongly voicing for a free, fair and participatory election in the country. They also urged for political freedom for opposition parties and unrestricted political activities.
Encouraged by the U.S. sanctions against the perpetrators of democracy and human rights, as well as its strong voice in favor of free, fair and participatory elections in Bangladesh, the BNP has been holding large rallies across the country. It is demanding an immediate end of the illegal authoritarian Awami League regime and advocating for free and fair elections under a neutral authority.
Noting the colossal success of the opposition rallies, the Bangladesh government has unleashed dangerous terror tactics that included bomb blasts, lethal attacks, killings, arrests, torture and has filed hundreds of thousands of fraudulent cases against the people joining the movement.
At a police conference in Dhaka on November 8 and 9, 2022, senior officers were said to have been warned of dire consequences if they failed to prevent the people from their respective areas from joining the opposition rallies. They were asked to launch bomb blasts and implicate the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islam, if needed. If the Awami League party activists attacks the opposition, the Bangladesh law enforcement was told it should be blamed on the opposition.
In fact, this has been the pattern for the past 14 years, ever since the government of Sheikh Hasina has been in power, without the people’s mandate. It has worked tirelessly to destroy and discredit the political opposition. On October 29, 2022, the Prime Minister referred to the brutalities her government committed in 2013 against Hefazet-e-Islam, an Islamic advocacy group of madrasah teachers and students. Sheikh Hasina publicly warned the BNP that she would conduct a similar operation on the opposition during its rallies. Many fear the massacre is aimed at the ensuing December 10, 2022, rally to be held in Dhaka. These threats have been repeated publicly by Awami League ministers. The ruling party in Bangladesh, including the Prime Minister, has thus resorted to publicly and blatantly advocating for massacres.
The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) urges the U.S. administration, once again, to come with determined authority and help Bangladeshi people attain freedom from brutality. Bangladeshis are in need of regaining their democratic rights and the freedom of choice to vote for whom they choose. CHRD Bangladesh also urges the U.S. authorities to assist Bangladeshis against serious human rights violations committed by the regime in Bangladesh.
If the Sheikh Hasina government is not stopped forthwith from its dangerous game plan against the opposition during its nationwide rallies, particularly on the one scheduled in Dhaka on December 10, the country and its people will likely be harmed to a point from which it might never recover, placing democracy, freedom and human rights at serious risk in Bangladesh.
*The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) is a nonprofit organization based and registered in the United States. (www.chrdbangladesh.org)
November 20, 2022
