The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh) is deeply constrained to note the complete collapse of the institutions of democracy, human rights, and worst of all, election integrity in Bangladesh under the governance of Sheikh Hasina, illegally in power since 2009.
In an article published in the South Asian Journal (Bangladesh: It is Only Post-Election Now | South Asia Journal), Aequitas Review and others on November 11, 2023, notable author and writer R. Chowdhury wrote: “Election is no longer an issue in Bangladesh. Post-election is. By all indications, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is all set to hold the next election in January 2024 under its own management, as it did in 2014 and in 2018. The political opposition has been successfully hampered. Anyone talking about a free, fair and participatory election is considered an enemy of the state. Even the US Ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Hass faced threats of expulsion and death from the ruling Awami League (AL) zealots (for doing so).
Bangladesh hasn’t seen a credible election since 2001. Under Sheikh Hasina, two national elections in 2014 and 2018 and nearly six thousand local level ones were made totally farcical and one-sided to ensure an overwhelming victory for the ruling elements. The political opposition has either stayed away fearing complete rigging or been forced out from contesting.
Over the last 15 years, 1,500 leaders and workers of the opposing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have been killed by the Sheikh Hasina regime, 600 people have been abducted (most of them eventually killed), 100,000 people have been arrested and falsified court cases have been lodged against 5 million opposition members and dissenters. In the new spate of pre-election repression, the Awami League and law enforcement agencies have attacked the peaceful gathering of 1 million by the BNP on 28 October 2023. 15,000 leaders and workers of the BNP have been detained in very overcrowded prisons and thousands have been made to hide as the Awami League and police have been raiding homes throughout the country day and night. These are designed to continue the oppressive and authoritarian Awami League rule, which has practiced repressive measures since 2009.
The US-led international community has been consistently and forcefully urging for a free, fair and a participatory election, to be held in January of 2024. Towards that objective, the United States announced Visa Restrictions against election offenders, but the threat was met with sarcasm and ridiculous counter comments from the ruling coterie, including the Prime Minister.
The US sanctions of 2021 against the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and a few of its top officials have not hindered the Awami League’s infringements of democracy. Human rights violations continue unabated, and the 170 million people of the country remain under the axe of the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) which penalizes them for the slightest criticism of the high-level corruptions and serious wrongdoings of the regime and the ruling family. These punitive measures have not disturbed the slightest hairline of the authorities. Election related violence, mostly committed by the ruling forces that include the Awami League operatives, reached unprecedented heights over the past few months in defiance of the stated restrictions. The political opposition has been totally crippled. Minor and nondescript parties and elements are being coerced or lured to join the electoral farce, a one-sided game of the regime, due on January 7, 2024.
The current spate of intensified crackdowns on the main oppositions, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) commenced on October 28, 2023, when they and 25 other parties decided to hold a grand rally in Dhaka asking the autocratic and authoritarian Prime Minister to step down, paving the way for a nonpartisan, neutral caretaker government (CTG) to administer the next election. The rallies were brutally crushed with dozens of people killed and thousands wounded. Thousands of BNP and JI leaders and activists were sent to jail or remand, the Hasina regime’s term for police/RAB torture. Most of them have also been clamped with dozens of false cases.
There is a scramble among the ruling circle and its chosen beneficiaries to join the one-sided election. The 170 million people of the country are slipping fast down the abyss of despair and suffering, groaning under the grinding of Sheikh Hasina’s repressive steamrollers. The people have never before faced such a hapless and helpless situation.
CHRD Bangladesh seeks the conscience of people around the world to speak up and come to the aid of the suffering people of Bangladesh under the authoritarian repression of the current regime in total defiance of democracy, human rights and freedom of the people to choose their governance.