Guwahati: As apprehended our immediate neighbourhas slowly slipped to the endless cycles of violence and chaos followed by the detention, arrest anddeaths of opposition party workers as well as commonBangladeshi nationals, while the south Asian country is approachingits national election in January 2024. The prime oppositionBangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has maintained its demand that theruling Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina must resignbefore the polls paving the way for a neutral caretaker government inDhaka.But Prime Minister Hasina, who is seeking the mandatefrom nearly 160 million Bangladeshi people for her consecutive fourthterm in office, has already refused to accept the demand. Theirritated BNP and its allies organised a massive rally in Dhaka on 28October and showcased their power with the ultimatum to destabilizethe government. The authorities cracked down on the agitators acrossthe populous city and continued arresting thousands of them fromvarious parts of Bangladesh.
The Saturday demonstration remainsone of the major public outbursts where the protesters clashed withthe police personnel in various locations. On some occasions, theclashes turned violent and hundreds of agitators sustained injuries.At least one policer and two BNP leaders fell prey to violence.Several journalists also faced attacks while covering the clashes. Itwas followed by the arrest of many BNP leaders including its generalsecretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir by the law enforcementagencies.
Responding to the widespread arrest of oppositionleaders and reports of violent clashes with the protesters, AmnestyInternational stated that the intensified crackdown on oppositionparty leaders and protesters over the weekend signal an attempt at acomplete clampdown of dissent in Bangladesh ahead of the generalelections. The repeated cycle of killings, arrests and repression inBangladesh has deeply chilling implications on human rights in thecountry before, during and after the elections, said YasasminKaviratne, AI’s south Asia regional campaigner in a statementissued from London on Tuesday.
Asking the Bangladeshiauthorities to stop the crackdown on protesters and fulfil their dutyto facilitate peaceful assemblies, she added, some individuals in theprotests reportedly used violence and here the police must ensurethat the peaceful protesters can continue their protests. TheBangladesh government should take all appropriate measures todeescalate the situation and ensure that all law enforcement agenciesstrictly adhere to international standards on the use of force whenstrictly necessary, in order to avoid further harm to people’sphysical integrity.
Hasina’s party won in over 250Parliamentary seats in December 2018 general elections and thusenjoys an absolute majority in the 350-member Jatiya Sangsad, thehighest legislative body of Bangladesh (it does not have provinciallegislative assemblies like India). The daughter of BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman, enjoys the reputation as an influential leaderand lately gained more political mileage after the specialinvitation from New Delhi to attend the G20 summit.Hasina was the only south Asian government head to be invited toattend and she also enjoyed a bilateral discussion with herhost Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
ButKhaleda Zia led BNP along with its alliesparticularly Jamaat-e-Islami will not allow Hasina to gowithout troubles. One can predict more street protests withviolence across the country in the coming days. The turmoil maycontinue in the post-poll scenario, if the opposition alliance doesnot participate in the elections and subsequently Hasina wins again.The uninterrupted political chaos may invite the Bangladesh militaryto intervene and thus another dictator can surface in Dhaka.Otherwise, the radical Islamist groups may overpower everything inthe Muslim majority nation.
Nava Thakuria
