Bangladesh opposition celebration planning ‘fight-to-finish’ agitation to overthrow Sheikh Hasina govt

By Sahidul Hasan Khokon: With simply over a yr to go for the following parliament elections in Bangladesh, the political panorama has change into unstable. The prime brass of the important thing opposition BNP have repeatedly known as for the “overthrow” of Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League authorities and have now mounted December 10 to announce nationwide ‘ fight-to-finish’ agitation to topple the federal government.

“The nation shall be run on the directives of Zias [Begum Khaleda and Tarique Zia] from December 10 onwards,” thundered BNP’s top leader Amanullah Aman during a recent public rally.

It is a clear signal that the BNP-led Islamist Opposition alliance will go for violent street agitation and not participate in the parliament polls. At a time when the country is facing an economic crisis due to global headwinds driven by the Russia-Ukraine war, the BNP’s attempted move for political destabilisation is like salt on wounds for Bangladesh.

The BNP may feel they can exploit a looming recession characterised by increasing fear of food shortages, largely attributed to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, to pull down the government.

But since agitations disrupt the economy by obstructing production and trade, the BNP’s call to bring down the government from the street may be counter-productive as no sign of mass acceptance to the demand has appeared.

ALSO READ | Bangladesh opposition’s game plan: More violence, no polls

From the run-up to the national polls in 2014, the BNP with its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami, have resorted to election boycott and street violence to unseat the Awami League.

But the party born in the barracks and unaccustomed to the culture of democratic protests has failed to achieve its objectives.

The decision not to participate in the election, followed by horrendous street terror, a grisly spree of targeted attacks on law enforcers and violence unleashed by Jamaat on minorities, was deemed as the “biggest blunder” on the part of the BNP-Jamaat alliance, that resulted in over hundreds of lives lost and countless injured.

Now, the one point demand of ‘capturing power’ reiterated by BNP leaders in the last few rallies has prompted the Awami League to resort to a show of strength. A recent rally, organised by AL’s youth front in the capital turned into a human sea. The Awami League’s social media platforms used drone footage to bolster claims that the crowds at the ruling party’s rallies were far bigger than at those organised by the BNP.

CORRUPT LEADERSHIP

Currently led by Tarique Rahman, a fugitive and a convicted criminal, with his long track record a “symbol of violent politics”, the BNP has emerged as the first and foremost roadblock to any orderly democratic transition.

According to a series of US cables, leaked by Wikileaks, right after the fall of that BNP-Jamaat regime, “The bribery, embezzlement, and culture of corruption that the BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s elder son has helped create and maintain in Bangladesh a climate that has directly and irreparably undermined US businesses, resulting in many lost opportunities.”

“His theft of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in public cash has undermined political stability on this reasonable, Muslim-majority nation and subverted US makes an attempt to foster a secure democratic authorities, a key goal on this strategically essential area,” reads the cable.

Portraying Tarique as a logo of “kleptocratic government and violent politics” in Bangladesh, James F Moriarty, the then US ambassador, despatched the confidential cable on November 3, 2008 to Washington. Tarique’s flagrant corruption has additionally severely threatened particular US Mission targets, it mentioned.

On denial of area to terrorists—a key US precedence in Bangladesh, the diplomat deemed “Tarique’s audaciously corrupt actions” as jeopardising these policies.

“His history of embezzlement, extortion, and interference in the judicial process undermines the rule of law and threatens to upend the US goal of a stable, democratic Bangladesh. The climate of corrupt business practices and bribe solicitation that Tarique fostered derailed US efforts to promote economic development by discouraging much needed foreign investment and complicating the international operations of US companies”, said Moriarty in his report.

Moreover, an investigation conducted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found Khaleda, the then prime minister, and her son Tarique received a part of kickbacks via a proxy, paid by the Canada-based Niko Resources Ltd to get a lease of some Sylhet gas fields.

Importantly, any change of guard in Dhaka would also unnerve Delhi as the BNP-Jamaat alliance has long been known to back anti-Indian separatist groups and Islamist militants backed by Pakistan.

‘EXPORT OF TERROR’

Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister of Assam, in an exclusive interview with India Today admitted that “there was definite export of terror during Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) rule”. In reference to the return of normalcy in Assam, Sharma credited Bangladesh’s current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.

“The state of affairs modified after Sheikh Hasina took over. Her sturdy stance in opposition to terror has helped quite a bit in establishing peace in Assam. We gratefully acknowledge that,” Himanta Biswa Sarma told India Today.

“Bangladesh’s crackdown in opposition to Northeast Indian separatist teams has been seen in Delhi as massively contributing to the sharp drop in insurgency in that distant area. That has helped India redeploy a number of military divisions to its tense disputed Himalayan border with China,” says Subir Bhaumik, well-acclaimed author on India’s Northeast.

“India has excessive stakes in opposition to regime change in Dhaka as a result of Hasina has additionally granted transit amenities and use of Bangladesh ports by the landlocked Northeastern states,” he added.

PAK PROXIES IN BANGLADESH

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul has recently commented that “there are no militants in the country and the anti-terror drive appears to be a state-sponsored drama”.

This statement came after some militants were arrested by agencies in porous Chittagong Hill Tracts, already known to be a launching pad for militants and their training. Outraged by these comments by Fakhrul, many netizens termed Fakrul “a sympathiser for militants inspired by his fugitive leader Tarique”.

During the last rule of the BNP Jamaat alliance, on April 1, 2004, the country witnessed the biggest recovery of arms, reportedly meant for dreaded groups like ULFA. Ten truckloads of weapons meant for the dreaded ULFA in India’s Assam state were seized. The role of then PM Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique and his sidekick junior Home Minister Lutfor Zaman Babbar has been graphically documented in the court judgment in the case.

Leading analysts like Bertil Lintner described Bangladesh as the “cocoon of terror” and Elisa Griswold predicted an Afghan style Islamist Revolution (‘A cocoon of terror’ by Bertil Lintner, Far Eastern Economic Review, Apr 4, 2002/ ‘The Next Islamist Revolution?’ by Elisa Griswold/ The New York Times, Jan 23, 2005), are some headlines speak about the explicit patronage by BNP Jamaat government in its previous term.

According to experts, “Sheikh Hasina clearly should be given due credit for her strong determination that resulted in a complete crackdown on militants and terror groups, for a stable Bangladesh, that is held highly by many economists as a model of human development.”

Published On:

Nov 20, 2022