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Is Bangladesh moving towards an authoritarian one party state?

Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

31^st December 2018 marks the result of the Bangladesh elections. Sheikh Hasina will sit as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for a third consecutive term in which she won by a landslide. The Awami league won 288 of 300 votes across the country. At first reflection, the election results are a clear indication that the people of Bangladesh are extremely happy with their Prime Minister. However, under closer inspection, the feeling in Bangladesh paints a worrying picture of a country which considers itself a democratic country but is flirting with dictatorship. Many within the country including the main opposition party (BNP) do not agree with the result of the election. So, what is going on in Bangladesh?

Over the past couple of years there have been several reports of voting irregularities, abductions, intimidation, political arrest, extrajudicial killings, torture, press restriction and many others crimes which have been reported by various human rights groups and NGO.

Brief History

The father of the nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founder of the Bangladesh Awami League party

Since 1971, Bangladesh (Former East Pakistan) gained its independence from Pakistan (West Pakistan), after a bloody war which resulted in 3 million Bangladeshi’s being raped or murdered. Bangladesh sailed its own sails lead by their fearless leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Father of the Nation). Within four years of leading his country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the rest of his family members were murdered by the military. Sheikh Mujib was survived by his two daughters who were in Germany at the time of the assassination which forced them in to exile until their return in the early nineties. The army had taken control and it was not too long before Zia-Ur-Rehman, an army officer turned politician, would become prime minister of Bangladesh. Four years later Zia, would suffer the same fate as Mujibur Rahman, a secondary military coup would lead to his death.

Second Prime Minster, Zia-ur-Rehman, founder of the Bangladesh National Party

Feuding Family Dynasties:

Both family dynasties have been feuding since the country’s inception. Both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia (Zia-ur-Rehman wife) have been Prime Ministers of Bangladesh. Both parties have used their position in power to diminish the power of the other, through killings and murders. However, the endemic violence of two waring families has spread across the country with people bitterly divided between both parties. Over the years, thousands of Bangladeshis have been either killed or murdered in the name of two families.

Political Disappearances.

Odhikar, a Dhaka based human rights group have reported 402 people being victim to political disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Most of the victims are those who are opposed, critical or a threat to the current regime. In 2012, prominent opposition party figure, Ilyas Ali was kidnaped outside his home along with his chauffeur, his body has not been found, and the government have refused to accept any part in his disappearance. In another case, Aminul Islam a member of a trade unionist disappeared; however, his body was found. The post mortem results showed several bruises on his body and it was concluded that he was tortured. Yet again the Awami League government have distant themselves from this incident.

United Nations and Human Rights Watch have been extremely critical of Sheikh Hasina’s government role in these enforced disappearances. However, Awami League have been quick to distance themselves from these allegations. RAB (Rapid Action Batallion) have been heavily linked to these dissapearances.

The RAB was created in 2004 as a counter-terrorism unit to tackle Islamic terrorism in Bangladesh. Over the years they have been used as an important tool by the government to carry out ‘hits’. Wiki-leaks revealed a radio-interview on a Swedish Radio, in which a RAB Officer would carry out killings on behalf of the government. If they believe a proposed ‘suspect’ was on their list but the evidence would not warrant a conviction they would either kill or make the said individuals disappear.

Media

The pre-requisite to any democracy is the freedom to press. The press in theory plays a critical role in the functioning of any democracy, in that they keep the executive in check so that the public have a fair and consistent representation of the government’s successes and failings. However, in reality this is a far cry in many democratic countries. Bangladesh like many other countries has played a pivotal role in silencing free-media. Although, in recent years, media has been heavily silenced, with growing concerns from authors, that if they were to report openly against the government, they would suffer grave consequences.

Shahidul Alam a prominent photo journalist who has been an open critic of the Awami League government was arrested and tortured by the police authorities for 90 days. Sheikh Hasina criticized the tortured journalist by referring to him as a mad man. Amnesty International have requested that the government release Shahidul Alam without any charges.

Shahidul Alam (Journalist) being arrested from his residence where he was detained and beaten for 3 month until his bail

By her own son’s admission, he once responded to a journalist, claiming his mother considered it a badge of honor to be compared to authoritarian dictator Staling.

Bangladesh ranks 146th in the Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index, behind countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and South Sudan. It has slipped from 118th when the index began in 2002.

Sheikh Hasina’s government has approved the Digital Security Act which gives the government powers to arrest without warrant. Amnesty International have expressed their concerns on this new legislation as a ‘dangerous restrictions on freedom of expression’. The act enables judges to enforce sentences of up 10 years for any information which is considered aggressive or frightening, Surely, this part of the legislation is subjective to the authority which interprets any publishing content. Would it not open a floodgate of arresting any one and everyone who publishes anything which is anti-Hasina.

Student Protest leads to Death!!!

In July 2018, university and school student’s protests led to the streets to demand road safety after two students were killed by buses. Credible witnesses who were present saw students from the Awami-League wing attacking protestors with bats and machetes. Police had also arrested student protestors after the planned Awami League student-wing violence.

An aerial of the student protest before the violence

**********************************Rohingya***************************************

Whilst the international community has condemned the Bangladeshi government of their treatment of Rohingyans. Bangladesh was the only country fully committed to taking one million Rohingyan refugees. The Bangladeshi government are still being provided indefinite security for one million Rohignyan refugees whilst also taking on the responsibility of resettling them across the country

International Concerns:

The European union, Switzerland and Norway have expressed their concern on all of the above-mentioned issues including labor laws. The United States government has also called for free and fair elections during the lead up to the 2018 general elections and criticized the crackdown of student protest.

What now for Bangladesh…

Whilst you cannot deny Sheikh Hasina’s economical success you cannot help but acknowledge the growing discontent within the country of her Iron-Fist approach which has been likened to the likes of dictators like Stalin.

Bangladesh like many other commonwealth countries are still in their infancy to democracy so you are expected to find lack of resources and a mismanagement of services. However, the corruption and human rights violations have reached critical in Bangladesh. A reflection of this is the electoral turn-out for last year’s election. Dhaka has the highest number of Facebook users of any capital city in the world yet many young Bangladeshi’s who are currently discontent with the government avoided using Facebook in fear that they would be imprisoned, tortured and killed by Hasina’s government.

The other issue which plagues sub-continent politics is family dynasties. In India we have the Gandhi family which have been running strong since the birth of mother India, in Pakistan you have the Bhutto family, and in Bangladesh we have the battling Zia and Rahman family.

Bangladesh requires a fresh face from both parties who are not associated with the family or maybe a third political party which is not associated with this family feud. The people of Pakistan have recently elected PTI (Pakistan Tahrikeh Insaaf), led by their charismatic leader Imran Khan who defeated the popular PPP and PML-N party who have stronghold of Pakistani politics for over 50 years. Shouldn’t the same work for Bangladesh?

Military intervention appears to be an on-going issue in both Pakistan and Bangladesh. Both countries written constitution enables the military to intervene when they feel the government is not acting within its mandate. Over the years, military intervention may have had short term success; however, closer observation indicates that the military causes more problems than good. For one, we have military offices taking official post (Zia-Ul-Haq, Mohammed Ershad and Parves Musharaf) without ever being elected and it secondly, it delays the democratic process which in turn leads to political and economic uncertainty. A proposal to have the military intervention limited would benefit the country and prosper the democracy.

P*Disclaimer- I have no links or support to any political party in Bangladesh. This just an on observation of Bangladeshi politics from my view.

Islamophobia: The right to offend, the right to be offended? After the tragic events of Christchurch where do we draw the line!!!

I want to start this blog off by remembering our children, brother and sisters who were martyred in Christchurch mosque before Jummah Salah (Friday Prayers). Those who have died in Wudhu (state of ablution) will benefit greatly in the hereafter.

The rise of Islamophobia and racial intolerance have spiked across the globe since 9/11. I don’t think it’s necessary to go in to the nuances of every incident that have occurred post 9/11. A number of issues can be identified for the rise of hate crime. Firstly, western invasion in Arab lands to tackle the war on terror and the other agenda is to disable ‘autocratic’ governments which are not compatible with Western geo-politics. A direct result of war-torn countries leads to fear of life, and a fear losing your life, results in mass migration to safer countries. The third and most important rise of hate crime has been heavily supported by the work of media propaganda and social media demagogues. The media has worked tirelessly in demonizing ethnic groups and Islam in the west which has lead to where we are today.

The endemic rise of right-wing fanaticism has spread across the globe. The support of the media and successive governments have stoked the flames of a growing fire which has spread rapidly. Right- wing political groups has gained huge popularity across Europe in recent times, the UK itself is heading towards Brexit where people have cited immigration as a common reason to leave the EU, and the successful election of Trump was the proverbial cherry on top.

A spate of attacks across Europe and America are growing concerns for the Muslim communities. It was only two years ago that a mass shooting incident occurred in a mosque in Quebec where 6 muslims were shot at by a white supremacist. In Norway, Anders Breivik (Neo-Nazi) killed 8 in an Arson attack and then went on a shooting spree killing close to 80 people in defiance of multi-culturalism and Islamification of Europe.

In the UK, we have seen several incidents of violence towards the muslim community, most notable, Darren Osborne driving his van in to a bunch of worshipers outside a mosque in Finsbury Mosque. There are many other attacks we can mention but this would require further scrutiny. Nevertheless, the Home Office latest reports on Hate Crime highlighted a 40 percent rise in religious hate-crime from 2016/2017 to 2017/2018.

This recent Christchurch massacre is the epitome of prevalent right-wing terrorism. Prevent an initiative created by the UK Government reported a 36 percent rise in right-wing fanaticism in 2017/18. So, this attack was of no surprise.

The right to Offend?

Freedom of speech is the by-product of democracy. Each and everyone of us has the right to have their freedom of speech protected. However, the question that should be asked, how far do we go before we have the right to offend? If, you are advocating the right to offend? How far does offence go when your words become a risk to the public?

Why Tommy Robinson?

After the recent events in Christchurch, it is evident that the right to offend, when it ends up in the the wrong hands, can have disastrous effects. Tommy Robinson shot to fame in 2008 after a group of Anjem Chaudary supporters (A fringe minority) started burning poppies at a returning home parade for soldiers of Luton. The likes of Tommy Robinson have used his platform to aggressively attack muslims and Islam. Tommy set up the English Defence League (EDL) in 2008, and has gained popularity amongst deprived working-class communities. Tommy in his own admission has profited heavily from Islamophobia and continues to gain popularity with his anti-islam rhetoric. Tommy understands people who have genuine concerns and directs these concerns in to hate rather than dealing with solutions.

*On the topic of the Islamophobia industry. University of Berkeley found that 208 million dollars was invested between 2008-2013 in to Islamophobia. Am sure that number has probably doubled since 2013.

Going back to Anders Breivik. Prior to his infamous terrorist attack in 2011, Anders Breivik had strong links to the EDL. He also admitted to being inspired by the EDL and also wanted to join an EDL march in Bradford prior to his own demolition job. There were also EDL Facebook forums that he actively participated in. Yet Breivik is yet to show any remorse for his actions and was evidently happy in court when he met the victims families in court.

Brenton Tharrant, the Christchurch terrorist himself was inspired by Ander’s Breivik. Brenton met with his Idol Breivik as cited in his 74-page manifesto, prior to carrying out his horrific act. All roads in this case lead to Tommy Robinson. Tommy Robinson’s words have had an impact, granted he has not acted out his word, but his words alone have had domino effect, looking at the the Norway and Christchurch attacks. So, should Tommy be held responsible?

The same can be said regarding Anjem Choudhary. Both Anjem and Tommy are two cheeks of the same ass.

The Media

The mainstream media is as responsible as the extremist. In a democracy, the freedom to press is an absolute right to any democracy, however, the media has lost its way in the framework they operate within. The concept of freedom to press was to ensure that true stories are told and the public are kept informed freely from parliamentary and government bias. Third world countries are dictated by autocratic governments, however, in this country, the mainstream media dictates are political views.

How much influence does the media have? Well in 1994, the Sun Newspaper (the most popular paper in the UK) had sensationalized that they had won the general election. Going as far as the 1970’s, any political party which has been supported by the Sun has gone on to win the general election. How easy would it be for the Sun Newspaper to push forward a negative agenda? The answer is quite simple…

Have the media flirted with the right-wing nationalism in their attack against semetic religions? Well the answer is yes. During the early 30’s, Lord Rothermere the owner of the immigrant and race bashing newspaper was an advocate of Hitler and openly supported the attacks of Jews that lived in Germany. So, it should be of little surprise when we see these papers demonising muslims or Islam.

Neil Basu, chief of counter-terrorism in the United Kingdom has openly criticized the main-stream media for its role in radicalizing right-wing terrorism. Basu was particularly critical of the Daily Mail and the Sun coverage of the Christchurch video shooting, but yet the same mainstream-media had been critical of social media sites, for their failure to monitor the uploading of Islamic terrorism videos.

Quite often, you read sound bites of right-wing fanatics being labelled ‘lonely wolf, victims of some sorts, innocent angelic kid that lead them to doing x,y and z etc.…. The mainstream media have tried to legitamise reasoning for right-wing fanaticism. However, the same reasoning is not provided to fanatics who propagate attacks in the name of ‘Islam’. Not for one minute would I expect the media to defend these terrorists. However, the hypocrisy and double standards of the mainstream media operates within its framework.

The right to be offended?

When the right to offend is so easily appropriated the right to be offended can be easily crossed. When you incite hatred and demonize communities it doesn’t take too long for people to rely on journalistic writings, to act upon bigotry and hatred.

However, how far does the right to be offended go before its actions have a tragic consequence. Does is start with conversations, the right to insult, the rick to mock, the right to protest, the right to blog, the right to incite hatred? Or the right to act like we all saw in Christchurch?

The Solution:

The premiere of New Zealand in unity with the Muslim com
munity in mourning

Well astonishingly for the first time we have seen the word ‘terrorist’ being used inclusively for the first time. For the first time, as far as I can remember, the word terrorist has been labelled to a non-muslim. The premiere of New Zealand, Jacinda Adern, a beacon of light for the global unity, stood with the muslim community and mourned with us. Not only did she mourn, she condemned the vile actions of Brendon Tarrant, and labelled him a terrorist.

Considering the huge steps taken by Jacinda, I think the media should also take a stronger position in condemning all forms of terrorism. However, if they fail to do so, a stronger position should be taken hold the media accountable. A regulatory body with the power to enforce huge fines and potential criminal prosecutions would be the most beneficial way in dealing with the media should they continue to stoke the flames of Islamophobia.

Hate preachers like Tommy Robinson and Anjem Chaudary who are guilty of radicalizing others, stricter guidelines should be put in place to monitor their social media platforms, disable their social media in the event they are pushing the boundaries, or impose prosecutions to those who choose to purposely incite bigotry, racism and islamophobia through violence.

Hopefully we can use the events of Christchurch to unite communities…