Emboldened by the US led international pressures for a credible election in Bangladesh, the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has been campaigning for some time for an immediate termination of the illegal current Awami League (AL) administration led by Sheikh Hasina. The BNP wants to hold the national elections under a neutral authority. That the elections in 2014 and 2018, held under the ruling Awami League, were totally fraud were acknowledged by local and international authorities, including the U.S. Even the military-managed elections in 2008 were suspected to have acted in favor of the Sheikh Hasina led-Awami League.
The BNP held a number of highly successful rallies in which hundreds of thousands of people attended, braving various obstacles created by the ruling authorities. The demand for the exit of the Hasina administration has become a national cry.
However, fascists rarely quit easily. They use all their tools to destroy any challenges. Sheikh Hasina reacted to people attending the rallies with increased intensity. A few examples:
- To prevent the people from joining the opposition rallies, all modes of transportation were stopped for a few days ignoring unsurmountable suffering to the common people.
- Police and Awami League party thugs were installed to fight the incoming flow of people, at times causing serious casualties.
- On October 28, 2022, Sheikh Hasina declared that she would do everything to destroy terrorism and fundamentalism, the terms used against the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islam, albeit mistakenly. It is suspected that she might commit artificial terror acts and put the blame on the opposition.
- On October 29, 2022, Sheikh Hasina threatened that she would reduce the BNP to the fate of Hefazat. It was a hint at the massacre she committed on the Hefazat, a non-political organization of Islamic teachers and students, in May of 2013.
- On November 2, 2022, Sheikh Hasina also threatened that she would send BNP Chief Khaleda Zia to jail. Earlier, Hasina also started an unsubstantiated fraud case against Tarique Rahman and his wife Zubaida Rahman. Arrest warrants were issued against the two Zia family members.
The Coalition of Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) strongly condemns these acts and statements of the illegal, unelected authoritarian regime in Bangladesh. They are extremely dangerous in the context of the volatile political situation in Bangladesh. The authoritarian government is desperate to destroy the opposition movements in its attempts to stay in power. Unless counter measures are taken, especially by the international community, Bangladesh may be heading towards serious consequences and the many movements for democracy and human rights will be in vain.
*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 13, 2022
