When satire becomes reality in Bangladesh

There is now no satire in Bangladesh. Only reality. Or is that what we thought could only be satire is now reality.

Six months ago, Sheikh Hasina's son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, wrote a couple of outrageous fact-free articles arguing that the police had investigated every single allegation of an enforced disappearances in Bangladesh and found them all not to be genuine! In fact, he argued that all allegations of disappearances were "fictitious attempts by accused criminals to avoid prosecution and accountability." Yes, really. He said that!

Election 2018: Sajeeb Wazed Joy's poll half-truths

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of the Bangladesh prime minister and one of her key advisors, has published the results of a poll that he commissioned in 51 constituencies, with 1000 people surveyed from each of these constituencies. He says that

"The 51 constituencies were selected from a mathematical analysis of all national election results from 1991 to 2008. These 51 were the ones that switched parties the most or had the narrowest margins of victory on average. These were the constituencies that our party was most concerned with."

He goes onto say that, "The average AL vote is 66% to BNP's 19.9%, with an average 8.6% undecided."

"On a party basis the Awami League leads in all 51, with the smallest lead 12.2% in Joypurhat-1 and the largest 75% in Barishal-4. The smallest undecided vote is 2.5% in Tangail-3 where the AL lead is 41.5% and the largest is 19.8% in Shatkhira-3 where the AL lead is 64.7%, far above the undecided vote.

This all seems very positive towards the Awami League. However, Joy is not telling the full story about these polls.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, anti-semitism and offensive posts

Sajeeb Wazed Joy is the son of Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, one of her mother’s official advisers and, apparently, the governing party’s chief propagandist. Many of his articles and Facebook posts are full of falsehoods, lies and misrepresentations – see here about disappearances, here about a plot to kill him, and here about corruption.

This week in a highly offensive, inaccurate, defamatory and anti-semitic post he has taken aim at my father-in-law, Kamal Hossain, a well known lawyer and personality in Bangladesh who has decided to take a step forward into the political mainstream (and maelstrom) by allying his party with the country’s main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, with a series of demands around a fair election, and proposals to improve governance.

"The PM's son, Deceit and the Case against Shahidul Alam"

The Bangladesh government has blocked the Indian news website Wire.in and as a result its articles can not be read in the country. Below therefore is the text of a recent article, written by The Wire about an intervention made by Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of the Bangladesh prime minister, seeking to justify the detention of the photographer, Shahidul Alam, titled,   "Sheikh Hasina's Son Has Exposed the Deceit in the Case Against Shahidul Alam". The original article is here.

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Sheikh Hasina's Son Has Exposed the Deceit in the Case Against Shahidul Alam

Sajeeb Wazed Joy's Facebook post on the photographer's arrest is full of falsehood, misrepresentations and faulty analysis.

The Wire Analysis

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the Bangladesh prime minister’s son as well as her adviser, has intervened in the debate on the detention of Shahidul Alam, the eminent and internationally regarded photographer picked up on Sunday and now remanded to police custody, arguing in a Facebook post – and widely reported in Bangladesh media – that Alam had published false posts which directly incited violence leading to the blinding and crippling of one Awami League activist.

It is a scary intervention since in Bangladesh, to those working within the administration, law enforcement and justice system, pronouncements by the ruling family are like edicts from god on high. It is difficult to see now how any police officer, magistrate (or even some judges) will dare to actually engage their independent minds to the facts of the case.

Apart from being scary for its implications on Alam, it is also scary because Joy’s Facebook post is full of falsehood, misrepresentations and faulty analysis. One should not be surprised at this. In the recent past, he has falsely argued that disappearances don’t take place in Bangladesh; that a Canadian court exonerated the Bangladesh government from corruption in a World Bank-funded project and that the journalist Shafique Rehman was involved in a plot to kill him. So this is par-for-the-course.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy's dictionary of new political terms

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of Bangladesh's prime minister has recently published not one but two extraordinary articles which not only denies that the country's law enforcement authorities are involved in enforced disappearances - the picking up, secretly detaining and often killing of men in Bangladesh - but also that the police investigate every single one of these disappearances and found no evidence of state involvement. 

In fact, not only is there overwhelming eye-witness evidence that law enforcement and intelligence agencies including Rapid Action Battallion, the Detective Branch of the Police and DGFI are involved in picking these men up (over 400 since the government came to power) and that in some of these cases, but also new evidence that the prime minister herself - Sajeeb's mother - has personally authorised some disappearances including that of one person whose whereabouts, 20 months after his pick-up, remains unknown. Moreover, far from the investigating disappearances, the Bangladesh police don't even allow most families to report them. To read a response to Joy's articles see here.

In his articles, Joy defines "enforced disappearances" as 

"fictitious attempts by accused criminals to avoid prosecution and accountability."

Bangladesh Politico has now got its hands on a few pages from Joy's new dictionary of Bangladesh political terminology - and we can for the first time publish some more definitions.

• Awami League - the only legitimate political party in Bangladesh;
• Caretaker government - a mechanism of ensuring more fair elections in Bangladesh which had to be stopped as it risked allowing the election of a party other than the Awami League;
• Corruption - thievery, larceny and kleptocracy solely conducted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other parties that support it;
• Democracy - When elections results in the victory of a party led by Sheikh Hasina;
• Election Commission - a group of trustworthy and incorruptible administrators who say and do exactly what the Awami League asks it to say and do;
• Extra-judicial killing - when a criminal, often under the influence of drugs, shoots himself, (sometimes having handcuffed himself first);
• Freedom of Speech - freedom to speak about the greatness of the Awami League, its current leader and her family members;
• Freedom of Assembly - a freedom that prevents members of the opposition parties from congregating and speaking against the Awami League;
• International Crimes Tribunal - a process which complies with all standards of a fair trial, other than the ones that could allow the accused to properly defend themselves;
• ISIS - a group that exists in every country other than Bangladesh;
• Police investigation - an inquiry which results in a finding that a crime was committed by a leader, activist, member or supporter of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other opposition parties and concludes that no member of the governing party was involved;
• Terrorism - any activity conducted primarily by the opposition political parties.
• 
  

Please note: this is satire!

The '$300 million plot?' - lies, damn lies and Bangladesh political parties

In Bangladesh politics, there is minimal - if any - respect for basic facts.

This is particularly evident by the way in which politicians and the media have written and talked about the United States case involving the conviction and sentencing of three men involved in a bribery plot to obtain confidential information from the FBI.

To see the basis key facts relating to this case see here.

The Awami League's difficulty with the truth

On the Awami League side, we first had the basic misrepresentations made by Sajeeb Wazed, the son of the Bangladesh prime minister in his various Facebook posts. 

Second, we have the way in which pro-Awami Leaguers - and the media - have written about the case. 

Thirdly, most recently we have the prime minister herself. The Bangladesh Observer, reported the following:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday vowed to bring to justice those who conspired both at home and abroad to abduct and kill her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the USA.

"The conspiracy has been proved in the USA court," she told a civic rally arranged at Kotalipara Sheikh Lutfar Rahman Ideal Government College ground in the afternoon.

Referring to a USA court judgement, Hasina said an FBI official and a BNP leader have been sentenced to jail for their involvement in hatching a plot to abduct and kill Joy, also the PM’s ICT Affairs Adviser.

Assuming this to be an accurate news report, what the prime minister said was completely inaccurate; any claim that the US court had held or had ruled that there was a conspiracy to abduct and kill Joy is simply untrue.

The court convicted and sentenced the three men on bribery charges and there was never any charges relating to attempting to kidnap/hurt/kill any person. It is correct that the FBI had some evidence that Rizvi sought to kidnap and hurt Wazed, but the court, in the course of sentencing, ruled that it did not believe the evidence and dismissed it. It is also the case that the FBI did not present in the court any evidence that Shafiq Rahman or any other person was involved in any plan of Ahmed's to hurt Wazed.

If the prime minister wanted to use the US case to justify its investigation into the so-called 'plot to kill Joy', this is what she should have said - if at least she wanted to be accurate about the US case.

'A man in the United States pleaded guilty to bribing an FBI agent to obtain financial and other information about my son Sajeeb. During the investigation, the FBI found evidence that suggested that one of the reasons this man sought the information was to kidnap and harm him. The man was never prosecuted for this offence. Moreover the Judge during sentencing ruled that he did not believe that particular evidence. However, there was some evidence, and the Bangladesh government wants to look into this matter to see if there is any further evidence to support the claim that Ahmed planned to hurt my son, and see whether other people were involved.' 

However, it is my calculation that the reason why the Awami League leaders have to misrepresent and misconstrue the US case so much is because they have no further evidence to support its claim of a plot to kill the prime minister's son

The BNP's difficulty with the truth.
But of course it is not just the Awami League. The BNP have now got into the act.

On Sunday, May day, Khaleda Zia , the leader of the BNP, is reported to have said:

“The [US] case files say there is $300 million, which is equal to Tk 25 billion, in an account of the prime minister’s son. 

Where did this money come from? What is the source of this money? ... 

The court had its suspicion over $300 million or Tk 25 billion in his (Joy’s) account. The FBI found the money in investigation.

If you do not release [Shafik Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman], if you are the true prime minister of the people, then your son Joy needs o be questioned in custody about where he got this $300 million or Tk 25 billion.”

“Is this money legal?” 

Well, the case files do not state that there is '$300 million' in the 'account of the prime minister's son'.

The case records only say that there was an FBI memorandum relating to Sajeeb Wazed in which the words '$300 million' were written. It does not say anything more than that. Whilst it is possible that Khaleda is right that the document states that this money is in Wazed's account, it is much more likely not to be the case.

The reason for this is that  had Wazed's accounts really contained this amount of money, the US authorities would surely have taken action against him. Moreover, if is was written in the FBI memorandum that Wazed has this money in the bank, Shafik Rehman would immediately have published it - since this clearly would be sensational news.

'Plot to kill Joy' - The article that bdnews24.com refused to publish

Toufique Khalidi, Editor in Chief

Yesterday, I was told that bdnews24.com had refused to publish an op-ed on the the alleged 'plot to kill' the prime minister's son.

My article was written in response to the news website's own op-ed which had criticised my article written for The Wire, as being 'selective’, ‘misleading’ and ‘confusing’.

'Dear David,' the rejection e-mail stated. 'The editorial board has decided to not carry your piece. We hope you will continue writing for us in the future'. No reason was given.

When I submitted the article on Monday I had every expectation it would be published. Bdnews had previously carried another article critical of me - does it seem this is becoming a bit of a habit? - and it published my rejoinder, no questions asked. However, this time, I was told on Tuesday that 'The editorial board is in the process of deciding whether to publish your rebuttal.' I then responded by saying that I was happy to remove the last paragraph as I thought perhaps 'the editorial board' would find it untoward. This morning I heard that website would not carry the piece at all.

So here it is - in full (including the last para). In a separate post I will write why bdnews24 might have refused to publish it -but would be interested to hear any of your ideas why this might be the case.

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Omission and conjecture: A response to Shah Ali Farhad

David Bergman

It takes quite some nerve to write an article about the sentencing of Rizve Ahmed and two other men for bribery offences in the United States and fail to mention the most relevant part of the judge’s ruling - and then to go on to claim that my article is ‘selective’ and its title ‘misleading’ and ‘confusing’.

But that is what Shah Ali Farhad - Assistant Secretary (Central Sub Committee) of Bangladesh Awami League who is employed at a pro-Awami League research organization – has managed to do in his recent article.

Lets start with Farhad’s problems with the title of my article in The Wire, ‘US Court Dismissed Claim of Plot to Injure Bangladesh PM Son.’

Farhad argues that the title ‘tends to denote that a “claim” was made in court about the plot to abduct and kill Sajeeb Wazed by the US government which was then dismissed by the US federal court,’ which he claims did not happen.

Well that in effect is exactly what happened.

As part of its written submission to the court seeking sentencing enhancements, the Department of Justice argued that one of Rizve Ahmed’s objectives in seeking the documents was to physically harm Wazed, and it set out its evidence in support of that claim. (It should be noted that the Department of Justice never claimed at any point in its submission that there was an intention ‘to kill’).

During the hearing the Judge Vincent L. Briccetti considered this evidence and then explained why he thought that it did not support the conclusion claimed by the Department of Justice. (To see the detail of the Department of Justice evidence and the court’s view on it, read ‘Evidential Chasm: The Case Against Journalists Accused of Plotting to Kill Bangladesh PM’s Son’ also published in the The Wire.)

The Judge said, ‘I don't believe that there's sufficient evidence that [Ahmed] really did seek to kidnap and physically harm [Wazed]’.

He also said that on the basis of all ‘the the text messages and the other things that I've seen,’ it was his view that Ahmed’s seeking the confidential FBI information was not about causing Wazed any physical harm but ‘about furthering Ahmed's political aims, getting confidential information to expose what Ahmed apparently thought was corrupt behavior by the ruling party and otherwise embarrass [Wazed].’

Indeed, according to Department of Justice’s submission, the key information obtained from the FBI was, and I quote, “an internal memorandum (the ‘FBI Memo’) that referred to Individual 1 and a sum of $300 million, and a confidential report, known as a Suspicious Activity Report (the ‘SAR’) that also referred to Individual 1.” Individual 1 refers to Wazed.

In his article, Farhad does not refer to or quote a word from the reasons given by the Judge for believing that the evidence was not sufficient to support the Department of Justice’s conclusions. Nor does he quote anything from court’s ruling on this matter.

Since, in relation to the Bangladesh authority’s claim about a ‘plot to kill’, this is the single most relevant part of the sentencing judgment, his failure to do so is bizarre, to say the very least.

Farhad is entitled to disagree with the Judge’s ruling. Indeed, he could well have written an article setting out why he thought the judge was wrong in coming to his conclusions (though interestingly he did not).

However, Farhad is not entitled to set out the ‘evidence’ in one long section of his article, and then seek to pretend to his readers that the US district judge made no negative ruling about it.

Having totally ignored the judgment of the District Court judge, near the end of his article, Farhad then writes the following passage, ‘There should remain no credible doubt as to whether or not there was any cross-border conspiracy to obtaining confidential information on Sajeeb Wazed with the aim of abducting and harming/killing him in the US in light of the information already available in the public domain.’

How he comes to that conclusion - with ‘no credible doubt’, no less - I don’t know.

If we put to one side the US Judge’s comments about the evidence, there remains a huge chasm between the evidence that is currently in the public domain – concerning Ahmed’s criminal purchase of the FBI information, his sale of that information to a journalist (possibly Shafik Rehman), the meeting between the corrupt FBI officer and some Bangladesh associates, and some evidence that Ahmed sought to use the information to harm Wazed – and the claim that there is a ‘cross-border conspiracy’ with ‘the aim of abducting and harming/killing [Wazed] in the US’?

The US Department of Justice may well have further evidence that is not in the public domain which closes this evidential chasm – but at the moment on the basis of evidence in the public domain to make such a conclusion is, one has to say, politically motivated conjecture.

I would suggest that Farhad give up his day job at his Awami League think tank, and look into opportunities with the Bangladesh police, where – with his abilities in analyzing court records and assessing evidence – I am sure he will make a perfect fit.

The so-called 'plot to kill Joy' - This is what we know

Yesterday, the Indian news website The Wire published an article on the so-called plot 'to kill' Sajeeb Wazed, the son of the prime minister of Bangladesh. A follow up article was also published. These are the two articles if you are interested in the detail about this 'alleged plot'.

Below are the key point that emerge from these two articles - along with a consideration of the Bangadesh request for legal assistance and the US Government response

This sets out the following*:

• the two journalists Shafik Rehman and Mahmudur Rahman have been arrested on the basis of information related to a case in the United States. This is clear from the GD and the First Information Report as well as statements by Sajeeb Wazed, the son of the prime minister

• this 'US case' involved a trial of three men, one a Bangladeshi-American Rizve Ahmed, involving the payment of money to an FBI agent in exchange for confidential information contained in FBI databases about Sajeeb Wazed. The three men pleaded guilty in 2015 to committing bribery and they are all in jail.

• the three men were never charged with any offence relating to threatening or attempting or planning harm against any person.

• this case is not one concerning a 'plot to kill Sajeeb' or to harm. It was a case concerned with the illegal procurement of FBI information.

• the prosecutors never claimed in court that there was any plot 'to kill' Sajeeb

• prior to sentencing, however, the US prosecutors did claim that one of the Rizve Ahmed's purposes in obtaining the FBI information was to 'kidnap' and 'harm' Sajeeb. According to the case documents, the prosecutors based this on:
• a voluntary interview with investigating agents in which Ahmed "admitted that he provided the private investigator $4,000, and that he requested the private investigator’s help regarding a plan to “scare,” “kidnap,” and “hurt” Individual 1.” It should be noted that this private investigator, referred to as Steve, was not one of the three men involved in the bribery scheme, but a separate person who Ahmed contacted around January 2012 to obtain information about Wazed.
• confirmation by the private investigator that Ahmed had told him that he ‘wanted his help regarding a plan to scare and hurt Individual 1’
• a text message from the corrupt FBI agent, Robert Lustyik to his friend Johannes Thaler, both of whom were convicted along with Ahmed, which was sent when the two men thought Ahmed was reneging on their financial deal. The text stated: ‘Tell [Ahmed], I’ve got [Individual 1’s] number and I’m pissed. . . I will put a wire on n get them to admit they want [a Bangladeshi political figure] offed n we sell it to [Individual 1].’ The assumption, here, is that ‘offed’ means 'killed'.

• in the course of the sentencing hearing, the court rejected this claim. 'I just don’t feel there’s enough evidence that’s been presented to me for me to make that finding,' the judge said. '“This case is all about furthering Ahmed’s political aims, getting confidential information to expose what Ahmed apparently thought was corrupt behavior by the ruling party and otherwise embarrass [Sajeeb Wazed].

• the court documents show that Rizve Ahmed gave some of the confidential FBI documents, which he had obtained, to three men - one of whom was referred to a 'Bangladeshi journalist'

• the court documents show that the prosecutors don't make any other further claim about the Bangladeshi journalist - other than he received these documents

• the court documents also show that Rizve Ahmed organised a meeting at his house with his two co-conspirators (the FBI agent, and Thaler), a Bangladesh journalist, Rizve's father and another man. The prosecutors say that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the collection of more confidential documents from the FBI about Sajeeb.

• the court documents show that the prosecutors don't make any other claim about this meeting other than that its purpose was to discuss the illegal procurement of FBI documents.

It is important to keep in mind that the information we have is limited to what is contained in publicly accessible documents relating to the US case - in particular, the indictment, the government sentencing memorandum, and a transcript of the sentencing decisions.

There could be other information that the Department of Justice and the FBI have about what Ahmed and other people's conduct that is not in the public domain.

In this context, what can we say about the most recent claim made by the Press Trust of India contained in an article which states: 

The United States provided assistance to Bangladesh in its investigation that unearthed the plot to abduct and kill Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son in the US, a senior American official has said, a day after the police claimed to have uncovered the conspiracy. 

“The United States Department of Justice responded to the Government of Bangladesh’s request for legal assistance related to this case,” the official told PTI.

Two things seem to be be conflated here (a) the Bangladesh government's investigation into a so-called plot to 'kill' Wazed; and (b) legal assistance that the department of justice looks to have given the Bangladesh government concerning the Department of Justice's investigation into the US bribery case. For example, the Department of Justice could have provided the names of the three men who received FBI information from Rizvi Ahmed, and three associates of Rizvi Ahmed who met with the FBI agent.

It is the Bangladesh government which is suggesting that these men are all involved in a plot to kill Wazed, not - as far as one can judge from the US court records - the US department of justice.

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*Errors in the spelling of names have been corrected. It has also been re-edited in light of further information published in the second TheWire article.

Four factual blunders by Sajeeb Wazed in new facebook post

Sajeeb Wazed, Bangladesh's prime minister's son has made a second facebook post in support of legal action against the editor of Bangladesh's most popular English language newspaper, The Daily Star - who now face 58 criminal defamation cases and 17 sedition cases all round the country.

To read the background about this: (i) The Daily Star, media ethics and hypocrisy - 12 things you need to know 

(ii) The increasing absurdity of the Mahfuz Anam affair

Wazed's new Facebook post however contains four significant factual errors (totally misunderstanding Bangladesh's legal system, and the role of the media) which undercuts his whole argument. In fact his own logic suggests that he should be seeking the removal of all the criminal cases against the Daily Star editor.  Lets see whether he does this in his next comment, which no doubt is coming any day soon. This post also raises four additional queries about Wazed's position on this issue.

THE ERRORS

1. The cases are not civil, they are criminal

He says:

"Several of our “civil society” and newspaper editors are criticizing the civil defamation lawsuits filed against Mahfuz Anam following his admission of running a false smear campaign against my mother. .... The cases are all civil in nature, claiming damages and monetary compensation."

In fact all the defamation cases against Mahfuz Anam are criminal in nature. They are not civil. The cases are lodged in the magistrates court and, if they are about defamation, involve a criminal offence under section 499 of the Penal Code and each offence lodged allows a sentence of imprisonment of upto 2 years imprisonment. (In fact, the claims for compensation - which are part of the cases - have no basis since the magistrate court has no jurisdiction; the plaintiff's have to go to a civil court if they wish to seek compensation.)

The Daily Star, media ethics and hypocrisy - 12 things you need to know

After a two month hiatus, the BangladeshPolitico blog is back .... and there is much to catch up with.

Lets first start with the big media story of the moment.

Just days before The Daily Star celebrated its 25th anniversary, its editor Mahfuz Anam was questioned on the ATN News* Television channel about the paper's role during the state of emergency that took place between 2007 to 2009.

See also: Four factual blunders by Sanjeeb Wazed in new Facebook post

               The increasing absurdity of the Mahfuz Anam affair

This was the period when - with a looming manipulated election on the horizon - the military took over, installed a civilian caretaker government, and remained in power over two years before holding elections that brought the Awami League back to power in 2009.

During this period, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, the leaders of the country's two main political parties were arrested (and placed in house detention) and charged with corruption - on the basis of evidence provided by other politicians and businessman who also had also been arrested in droves.

It looks like Mahfuz had no idea that he was going to be questioned about this matter - and one of his responses during the exchange has created a firestorm in the county.

Sajeeb's attack on Prothom Alo

In case you missed it, last week Sajeeb Wajed, the Bangladesh prime minister’s son, laid into the country’s most popular newspaper, Prothom Alo. He stated:

"I am shocked that Prothom Alo, our largest Bengali newspaper, referred to our War of Liberation as an India-Pakistan war. By doing so they have insulted the memories of 3 million martyrs who were brutally murdered during the war. I consider this a heinous offence and those responsible must be sacked immediately.

It, however, does not surprise me. If you will recall, during the military regime from 2007-2008 Prothom Alo quite openly backed the dictatorship. They have proven time and again that they do not believe in democracy.

Now they have proven that they do not even believe in Bangladesh. Let us boycott Prothom Alo and send them a message. We will oppose anyone who does not support Bangladesh.”

On the most flimsy grounds, Sajeeb seeks to portray as ‘anti-national’ the country’s most popular, professionally run and independently minded newspaper.

Sajeeb Wazed, transcript of interview with foreign journalists

On 6 January, immediately after Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister gave a formal interview with foreign journalists, at Gono Bhavan, Sajeeb Wajed (her son, possibly leader in waiting, and key organiser of the Awami League election campaign) entered the room, and started talking to a small group of journalists, which I joined after a few minutes. A short news report on this is set out here.

Here is an audio recording and transcript of the impromptu press conference that took place is below. To see a 'fact-check' and my comments about what was said, see here

Please note that small sections of the audio are not good, but those parts last for only a few seconds.

Sajeeb Wazed's interview: fact check and commentary

This is a 'fact check' and commentary on the impromptu press conference which Sajeeb Wazed, the prime minister's son and a key member of the Awami League campaign team, conducted with a number of of foreign journalists on 6 January, the day after the election, and immediately after the press conference given by the prime minister.

You can read and hear the whole interview here, and a news report here.

The numbers at the beginning of the paragraphs blow refers back to the interview transcript

A1: Dialogue and terrorism: Is it right for Sajeeb to blame lack of proper dialogue on BNP? In my view neither party was that interested in dialogue. But Khaleda Zia’s failure to take up Hasina’s offer to come to her house, referred to by Sajeeb, was a significant failure (as I said at the time) – and the AL can rightfully point to this as an indicator of a reluctance on the part of the BNP to find a solution to the impasse other than one which involved total victory on its part.

He goes onto say, ‘If the other party is not willing to engage and purely focus on terrorism, then there is nothing you can do.’ This suggests that AL had been willing to dialogue when there were no hartals and sieges (which was most of 2013 until the end of October – which was when the hartals started again) but this was not the case. 

BNP, Jammat should be banned: Sajeeb Wazed

Here is a news report I wrote following an interview given by the prime minster's son to a number of foreign journalists on 6 January. An audio recording of the whole interview along with the transcript can be found here, along with a detailed fact-check/commentary on what Sajeeb Wazed said.

BNP should be made ‘illegal’, the prime minister’s son, Sajeeb Wazed told a small group of foreign reporters in an impromptu wide ranging interview at Gono Bhavan that took place one day after the election. 

Speaking about BNP’s violence he said, ‘Several of their leaders including Khaleda Zia’s advisers have gone on BBC saying, declaring war in Bangladesh, and that is exactly  what they have done. We are talking Molotov cocktails, civilian buses on fire with people in them.’  

When asked whether he therefore thought BNP should ‘continue to exist as a party, as from what you are saying it should be illegal’, he said, ‘I agree with you.’