CHRD Bangladesh Expresses Deep Concern At The Deteriorating Political Situation In Bangladesh And Discusses How To Move Forward
The agenda of the meeting:
The Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh, a US registered non-profit organization) had its first virtual meeting on June 13, 2021.
Welcoming the attendees, the President of the Coalition, Zoglul Husain, gave a short glimpse of the dismal situation of democracy and human rights in Bangladesh.
The keynote speaker was Anis Ahmed who is the National Director of Bangladeshis for Biden National Council, an official part of the Biden-Harris Campaign team, US. Mr. Ahmed was the former Commissioner of the Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs and South Asian American Affairs in the State of Maryland. Formerly a candidate from the Democratic Party for the Maryland State House of Representatives. Former lawyer of Bangladesh Supreme Court, went to the United States on a Fellowship on American and International Law in 1984.
Most of the 17 intended participants, many of whom are members of CHRD Bangladesh’s Advisory Board, contributed to the lively deliberations, while Imran Ansary, Secretary of the group, moderated.
At the conclusion of the meeting, there was a Q & A session by Sabria Chowdhury Balland, Vice President and Treasurer of CHRD Bangladesh, with Mr. Ahmed, to recap the appropriate strategies to adopt in order to work in tandem with the Biden administration moving forward.
What was discussed:
Describing the serious political situation in Bangladesh, the speakers said that the present fascist regime came through a conspiracy masterminded by India, which wanted to install a protégé that could serve its agenda. Accordingly, Sheikh Hasina Wazed was installed by staging fraudulent elections in 2008, and subsequently in 2014 and 2018. A one-party dictatorship, strongly backed by India, has since been running the country. Its deep adverse effect is evident in all sectors: freedom of expression, the rule of law and good governance have become things of the past.
The speakers also highlighted serious human rights violations committed by the regime over the past 13 years, with a view to keeping its power unchallenged. They mentioned a number of major massacres that included the killing of dozens of senior army officers of border guards in 2009 and hundreds of opposition activists belonging to the Jamaat-e-Islam and Hefazat in 2013.
Elements from India were suspected to have a hand in those brutalities. According to the Bangladeshi human rights organization Odhikar, 1,169 people lost their lives in extrajudicial killings between January 2009 and May 2016. Odhikar also reports that in June 2016, extrajudicial killings in the country took at least 24 lives. Opposition sources claim the total number of their cadre victims to be more than 650,000 under the Awami fascists. They also claim, thirty-five thousands of their members languish in jails on false charges, some succumbing to routine tortures under custody.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI), Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), Nikkei Asian Review and other financial institutions discovered huge financial irregularities resulting in money laundering of billions of US dollars. More than US$ 662.5 billion (Taka 530,00,000,000,000) was siphoned out of the country over the past decade. In 2020, Bangladesh ranked 146, out of 180, in the corruption scale, making it one the most corrupt nations. High level corruption has caused the administrative structures to collapse. On the other hand, the country’s sovereignty exists in name only; it is mortgaged to its larger neighbor, the regime’s sponsor.
Moving forward & the Biden administration:
The essential topic of discussion focused on not simply identifying the problems plaguing Bangladesh today but in discussing what we can be done concretely in moving forward in a positive manner.
It is felt that as the regime came through a conspiracy to serve an external agenda at the cost of national interests, and it held on to authority illegally for the past more than a decade, the immediate requirement is to remove the illegal, corrupt and fascist regime. A neutral, non-partisan Caretaker Administration can take over and hold a fair and participatory election within a given time so that the people can choose their leaders and government under a free choice. This is a suggestion.
President Joe Biden has pledged to put human rights and democracy at the center of his approach to foreign policy. The time could not be better and in this regard, CHRD Bangladesh, in collaboration with Mr. Ahmed, views it of utmost importance to mobilize and campaign for a Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh which was intended at the country’s inception in 1971. Within this project, the intention is to work alongside the Biden administration to restore peace, human rights and democracy to Bangladesh, adhering to what President Biden himself has clearly indicated his focus is on.
Therefore, CHRD Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi diaspora will continue to work with the Biden administration to help Bangladesh regain its democratic practices and human rights.