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.’ 

Ministers and their ministries

Here is a list of the ministers and their ministers, as well as the advisers to the prime minister

Cabinet Division
- minister: Sheikh Hasina

Public Administration
- minister: Sheikh Hasina

Defence Ministry
- minister: Sheikh Hasina

Armed Forces Division
- minister: Sheikh Hasina

The government's loyal opposition

Now brace yourself - and you will need to having read my last post on the 'unelected' ministers.

Now moving to the government's 'loyal' opposition.

Perhaps a little bit too loyal.

Remember the Jatiya party. It has been named as the official opposition. It received 33 seats in parliament.

Its new leader Raushan Ershad - appointed as leader so it seems by the Awami League itself - has been made leader of the opposition.

Most ministers 'elected' in uncontested pols

Now this is truly wonderful!

25 out of the 29* full ministers in the cabinet became members of parliament in uncontested 'elections'. That is to say there was no person to stand against them and there was no election in their constituency.

Only 4 ministers actually became an MP through an 'election'. These ones were:

Ambassadors to attend cabinet swearing-in ceremony

Interestingly, it appears that Western government ambassadors will be attending the swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet today.

The US embassy Dhaka Spokesperson, Kelly McCarthy said that the US ambassador will be attending, though she said his presence does not affect the US view about the lack of credibility of the elections themselves. She said that that the US does not recognise governments, as such, but only countries. This is the statement she gave me:

It is not a question of America’s recognizing or accepting the government that was just sworn in. America recognizes the country of Bangladesh, and that has not changed. America’s commitment to supporting the people of Bangladesh remains undiminished.

UK Aid to Bangladesh - what is actually going on?

There appears some confusion in the media in Bangladesh about the UK government's aid support to th country.

On 10 January, New Age broke the story that the UK, US and Dutch governments, along with the UNDP, were reviewing whether to continue their support for projects involving the Bangladesh parliament. The Daily Telegraph, published a similar story the following day focusing only on the UK review only.

The articles both only dealt with parliamentary projects - that is work being undertaken with the Bangladesh parliament - and the articles made it clear that it was only dealing with, in aid terms, a small amount of money. The Daily Telegraph article stated:

UK Aid has budgeted to spend £56.3 million over a five-year period on the two parliamentary support projects that are now under review, with over £12 million remaining to be spent this and next year. Not all of the project’s money is spent on parliamentary activities.

The European Union and the Jamaat

The Daily Star had a story today that caught my eye, titled, 'Cut ties with Jamaat: European, Asian diplomats call upon Khaleda, express reservations about Tarique's speeches, ask govt not to harass BNP leaders'

It was these paragraphs that I noted:

Observing the recent violent state of politics in Bangladesh, the European and Asian diplomats have drawn the conclusion that the BNP's key ally Jamaat-e-Islami is a terrorist organisation and, therefore, the BNP as a democratic party should not associate with a party like the Jamaat. 

“It appears to us that for the last few months, whatever the Jamaat did in the name of demonstration, they have resorted to terrorism,” said a European diplomat who has met Khaleda Zia after the January 5 election. He requested anonymity.

US Senate foreign relation committee seeks new elections

US Senator Robert Menendez, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has sent two nearly identical letters to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia urging them to 'end the current deadlock, eschew street violence, and begin negotiations on a path toward free, fair, and inclusive elections.'

They state:

The ongoing political deadlock has had serious economic consequences and will further weaken the confidence of international investors. To end this downward spiral, I strongly urge you to begin negotiations on new elections that are free, fair, peaceful and inclusive.

The vamping up of US pressure is to be expected - though this is from the legislative part of the state, not the executive.

This pressure is unlikely to exert very much pressure on the government, which seems willing to use its current unassailable position to remain in power, without being tested by proper elections.

You can see the two letters here

Russia: Bangladesh government is the will of the voters

The ministry of Foreign affairs of the Russian Federation joins India in issuing a supportive statement to the Bangladesh government - 

It is regrettable that the voting was put under boycott by main opposition forces of the country. 

Russia confirms its readiness to continue constructive partner cooperation with the government which will be formed on the basis of the will of the Bangladeshi voters. 

At the same time, we hope that the authorities and the opposition will not overstep the boundaries of the constitutional field to ensure internal political stability and strengthen the democratic institutes of friendly Bangladesh.

European Union calls for genuine dialogue for holding elections

The European Union has just issued its response to the election. It specifically refers to the need for elections, though does not state any kind of time frame for these.You can see all the other statements issued here 

The EU statement is set out below

Declaration by the High Representative Catherine Ashton on behalf of the European Union on the Legislative Elections in Bangladesh

The High Representative has taken note of the preliminary results and of reports of low turnout for the 10th Parliamentary elections held in Bangladesh on 5 January.

Human Rights Watch: nothing democratic about crackdown

Human Rights Watch has published a further press release about the current political and human rights situation in the country.

Titled, 'Elections Further Tainted by Arbitrary Arrests ‘Nothing Democratic’ About Ongoing Crackdown on Critics

Here are some excerpts

“While in some cases the government has acted appropriately to stop violence by some opposition forces, this spate of arrests is part of a pattern of weakening critics, limiting dissent, and consolidating ruling party power,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The Awami League claims that it is the leading democratic party in Bangladesh, but there is nothing democratic about this kind of widespread crackdown on critics.”

Hasina's press conference to international media

Below is the both the transcript of the press conference which the Bangladesh prime minister had with foreign journalists on Monday 6 January - as well as an audio recording of the event itself. 

I am publishing it here - do note there is nothing secret about this - as I think it is quite instructive. 

My comments about what was said are at the bottom of this post. 

(For those concerned about balance, do see my 'Truth, lies and misrepresentations' 

concerning a speech given by Khaleda Zia

Q1: After this contested issue around this whole election, do you think there will be another election quite soon as has been suggested from the Awami League as well as the BNP side?  

A1: Well you see our main opposition group did not participate in the election. I tried my best. I offered everything, that if you join we can constitute a government considering of all the political parties, represented in the parliament. Even I offered any ministry our leader of opposition wants and we can hold constitutional election. 

Further international statements on election

Further statements have been issued by different countries on the Bangladesh election. I have already published ones from US, UK, Canada, India, Commonwealth and the UN.

Here are the ones from Germany, France and Australia.

The Australian one was quite strong stating that 'the government and the opposition must take up their shared responsibility to hold a new, fully contested and transparent election as soon as possible'. Germany also called for 'inclusive, peaceful and credible democratic elections' though did not say anything about timing. And France gave probably the weakest statement out of all of them, simply calling for dialogue

Bangladesh election day, and beyond

This page contain a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis on Bangladesh's 'election' day, 5 January 2014 until 7 May.

For subsequent comment and analysis on post election Bangladesh go to to the home page and see separate posts.

To see page dealing with the earlier period of 30 December to 4 May, go here
To see page dealing with the earlier period of 23-29 December, go here
To see page dealing with the earlier period of 18-22 December, go here.
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TUESDAY, 7 JANUARY

3.10 pm: Is the new crackdown starting?
There has been much talk about a new crackdown starting after the election - not that of course there was not one before the election. And Sheikh Hasina yesterday in her press conference to Bangladesh media talked about coming down hard on 'terrorist activities'. Since 'the opposition' and 'terrorists' are not almost interchangeable words in the Awami League and the prime minister's discourse, so a crackdown on violence means, of course, a crackdown on the BNP/Jamaat.

Countdown to Bangladesh upcoming 'elections', 3

This page contains a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis as Bangladesh's 'election' day, due to take place on 5 January 2014, approaches.

This page relates to Monday 30 December 2013 to 4 January 2014
To see page dealing with the later period of 5 to 7 January, go here To see page dealing with the earlier period of 23-29 December, go here
To see page dealing with the earlier period of 18-22 December, go here.

SATURDAY 4 JANUARY 2014

7.25 pm: Human Rights Watch statement

Human Rights Watch has issued a statement on the current political situation in Bangladesh. It does not get into the rights and wrongs of the current election, but assesses the human rights situation.

When there are so many different kinds of human rights violations taking place on the part of state bodies and political opponents, it is difficult for human rights oragnisation (and indeed journalists!) to get the balance right. HRW does its best to do so, however:

“For an election to be free and fair, voters need to be able to vote in an atmosphere of free expression and free association,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director. “The actions of Bangladeshi political leaders – whether the government crackdown on the opposition or the opposition complicity in poll violence – deprive the country’s voters of any true choice.”

A rejoinder to my post on the AL polls

I received a 'correction', from Radwan Siddique (who has been involved in the Awami League election campaign) concerning my blog post, What to make of the Al's poll' which was published a month back

For those who did not follow this story at the time, in a nutshell the post concerned a poll 'commissioned' by the AL, undertaken by a company, one of whose owners is an Awami League MP, with the assistance of an international NGO  There was a difference of opinion between the AL and independent statisticians about how the raw data should be weighted. Two versions of the 'poll results' were in circulation - one of which was published in the Independent and Ittefaq newspapers which showed that AL was in the lead by about 6 percent (the 'AL version'), and another set of results published in New Age which showed that BNP was in the lead by 3 percent (the 'independent statistician's' version).

Countdown to Bangladesh upcoming 'elections', (23-29 December)

This page contains a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis as Bangladesh's 'election' day, due to take place on 5 January 2014, approaches. To provide information, tips or analysis please e-mail: bangladeshpolitico@gmail.com or tweet at @davidbangladesh.

This page relates to 23-29 December onwards.

To see page dealing with the current period from 30 December, go here.

To see page dealing with the earlier period of 18-22 December, go here.

SUNDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2013

3.15 pm: A government success ... so far
The objective of the government was to to ensure that the rally did not take place, and so far they have succeeded. Not a single protestor stands in front of the BNP office in Purana Palton. Some BNP leaders who were walking to the office earlier today were arrested. There have been some small clashes in different parts of Dhaka - with one person reported shot dead - but other than that, very limited activity. A clash outside the High Court gates with BNP supporters inside the gates and the police outside (using pink water from a cannon to spice things up!) and another at the press club. But otherwise not very much else.

Countdown to Bangladesh upcoming 'elections' (18-22 December)

This is a rolling blog containing news, commentary, and analysis as Bangladesh's 'election' day, due to take place on 5 January 2014, approaches. To provide information, tips or analysis please e-mail: bangladeshpolitico@gmail.com or tweet at @davidbangladesh.

This page relates to 18-22 December. 
To see page dealing with 30 December onwards.
To see page relating to 23-29 December onwards

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SUNDAY, 22 DECEMBER 2013

10.01 pm: A moment on public opinion .... and the spectre of 'fascism'
With the Awami League or its allies about to win close to, if not in fact, 100 percent of the seats in the new parliament, it is worth while taking a look at what the opinion polls have said - though there have not been any very recent ones published that I know about.

I have written a number of articles and posts on these - and the links for these are at the bottom of this page. Jyoti Rahman however has mapped on a chart the 14 polls that have been published since just before the government came to power in January 2009. He concludes:

In the best interest of party and country

David Bergman

This has been said before countless times – but right now, with Bangladesh sliding fast down a hole, it needs to be stated with even greater urgency.

If there was a moment for Bangladesh’s two political parties to step up to the plate and find a way out of the country’s current political crisis, that time is now.

What has to happen, is something like this.

Within the current constitution, a way has to be found so that a sufficiently level playing field can be created between the two political parties allowing free and fair elections to take place.

Bangladesh elections: Where we are now

A week has passed since I wrote 'Where does Bangladesh go from here', and it is time to take stock of where the country is now in holding its elections due to take place by 24 January.

Since 22 November, the following things have happened:
(a) the election commission announced '5 January' as the date for the election day polls with 2 December as the last date for candidates to give the election committee their nominations:
(b) the BNP organised a long three day 'operod' (siege) against this decision, cutting off districts from the capital, and limiting traffic throughout the country;
(c) the siege resulted in a death toll of at least 20, including in particular the setting on fire of a bus in Dhaka;
(d) the election commission has said that it is thinking of calling in the army to help out with law and order sooner rather than later;
(e) two diplomatic visits have been announced - one involving India's foreign secretary to Dhaka on 4 December and another involving UN's assistant secretary general on 6 December