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Tensions are rising between Bangladesh and the west because the US pressures prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian authorities to make sure the integrity of upcoming elections.
Sheikh Hasina, who has been in energy since 2009, has cracked down on political opposition and curtailed democratic freedoms in what analysts say is an try to sway the result of the polls, that are anticipated by January.
The US final month imposed visa restrictions on an unspecified variety of Bangladeshis for “undermining the democratic election course of”. Members of legislation enforcement, the ruling social gathering, and the political opposition have been amongst these included, the US state division stated.
Britain has additionally pressed Sheikh Hasina’s authorities to make sure elections are “free, honest, participatory and peaceable”.
Bangladesh’s authorities has pushed again towards western censure. International minister AK Abdul Momen stated the visa coverage was Washington’s “prerogative” however in an interview with the Monetary Instances in Dhaka final month, he dismissed criticism of the election build-up as “false propaganda on Bangladesh”, evaluating it with western interventions in Iraq and elsewhere.
“Have a look at Iraq, what did you do, within the identify of false propaganda?” he stated, suggesting that some within the west would possibly wish to “make chaos” in Bangladesh.
After the visa restrictions have been imposed, Momen advised the FT that he had been exhorting world leaders to “verify their info appropriately” with regard to the scenario in Bangladesh.
“Sadly, right now individuals are hard-pressed for time and don’t have a behavior of studying,” he stated whereas within the US to attend the UN Normal Meeting.
He added that relations with US president Joe Biden and secretary of state Antony Blinken have been nonetheless “excellent”.
Any stress in relations may spill into regional geopolitics. Sheikh Hasina has sought to advertise the nation of 170mn as a growth success, largely on the again of its huge garment sector, which depends on exports to the US and Europe. She has additionally cultivated nearer ties with India and China.
The nation’s home politics have been marred by a decades-long, usually bloody rivalry between her Awami League and the rival Bangladesh Nationalist social gathering. Sheikh Hasina’s earlier re-elections, in 2014 and 2018, have been dogged by low participation and allegations of electoral manipulation.
The US state division stated its visa penalties mirrored “considerations the place we see actions that undermine democracy and human rights in Bangladesh”, including that it supported “the will of the folks of Bangladesh to freely select their leaders”.
A earlier spherical of US sanctions in 2021 focused Bangladesh’s Speedy Motion Battalion, a police unit accused of disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Michael Kugelman, a senior affiliate on the Washington-based Wilson Middle think-tank, stated Washington’s stress over the elections was a part of a regional technique to restrict China’s affect by selling democracy as an alternative choice to authoritarian governments.
“The Biden administration has made Bangladesh a check case for its values-based overseas coverage,” he stated. “It’s a giant gamble . . . If Dhaka begins to really feel more and more boxed in by Washington, it may very well be tempted to gravitate nearer to China.”
Kugelman stated retaining energy could be existential for Sheikh Hasina, who additionally dominated Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001. Underneath Awami League rule, senior BNP leaders have been hounded by authorized circumstances and 1000’s of activists arrested.
If the Awami League loses energy, “they might doubtless be subjected to ferocious campaigns of retributive politics . . . very like what the ruling social gathering has meted out to the opposition”, he stated.
“The specter of US visa restrictions gained’t deter Awami League leaders in the event that they’re bent on holding on to energy in any respect prices.”
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