On May 13, 2023, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that she would not buy anything from the countries which “impose sanctions” on Bangladesh. So far, only the United States imposed limited sanctions on the country’s notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for its proven human rights crimes that include extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearance, illegal arrest and torture. Thus, the finger pointing was obvious.
“The Hasina administration’s diplomatic impropriety and name callings are not new. Earlier, Sheikh Hasina insulted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, her top minister compared US Ambassador Dan Mozena to Morjina, a maid servant in the mythical Arabian Nights, and called US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal a “two-cent minister.” In recent times, the ruling party thugs attacked the car of US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat, and created threats around the car of US Ambassador Peter Haas. No wonder the top court in Bangladesh once labeled her a “wrong-headed woman.”
With her latest targeted wrath against the US, the social media is abuzz with tons of sarcastic and entertaining comments as to her qualifications to twist the arms on which her country largely depends. Let’s take a closer look at the US involvement in Bangladesh (Information obtained from the US State Department sources).
1. In 2022, the US imported from Bangladesh goods worth $11.8 billion. Whereas, Bangladesh imports from the US amounted to $2.81 billion, thereby posting a $9 billion surplus for the country.
2. The United States is the largest importer of Bangladeshi products, including its Readymade Garments (RMG). If the US restricts or stops RMG imports, the Bangladesh economy will face dire consequences.
3. US investment in Bangladesh is about $8 billion (20% of the total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the largest.
4. Bangladesh is the largest recipient of US assistance in Asia.
5. The US has donated more than $121 million in COVID-19 assistance to Bangladesh.
6. The US contributed $2.1 billion so far towards the Rohingya refugees’ upkeep in Bangladesh.
7. The US is the largest source of remittance to Bangladesh, at $966.89 million, which is 20% of the total receipt of $4.82 billion, in the last quarter of 2022 (Source: Bangladesh Bank).
In addition:
1.The World Bank has provided about $40 billion to Bangladesh so far in grants and interest-free loans.
2. The IMF has recently announced a Rescue Package Loan of $4.5 billion to Bangladesh, which was in a dire situation because of low cash, mostly because of high level corruption .
The US is the largest contributor to these funding agencies plus the ADB, Asia Foundation, the UN and many other international and NGOs of which Bangladesh is a beneficiary.
Understandably, Sheikh Hasina’s rage against the US is the latter’s insistence on a free and fair election. She rigged the elections in 2014 and 2018 to continue in power. Due to her decade and a half long fascist and highly corrupt administration, her public standing is at rock bottom. A fair election meant her ouster. Fearing such a scenario, she is vehemently opposed to an election-time neutral caretaker government (CTG) which alone can ensure a reasonable fairness in polls.
The political opposition continues to stick to its guns for a CTG. The ruling coterie is doing everything possible to divide, disrupt, discredit and destroy the opposition unity so that it could continue its illegal and corruptive hold in authority by rigging the ballots once again. With a neutral CTG–in other words, in a free and fair election, the Hasina regime is likely to be ousted, and a democratic governance could be ushered in. Without a CTG, the country will remain in the grips of the fascists, at least for another 5-year term.
Therefore, the Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh continues to insist that to save Bangladesh and its suffering people, as well as to ensure a democratic and patriotic administration in the country, there is no alternative to a CTG.