Bangladesh’s economic project on track, but political process needs attention
Bangladesh’s economic project on track, but political process needs attention
In the last week of August, Bangladesh Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan led an official delegation to the UN Police Chiefs’ Summit held in New York. The delegation attracted international attention as it included Bangladesh’s Inspector General of Police Benazir Ahmed. Mr Ahmed, who later retired as the country’s police chief on 30 September, came into the limelight in December 2021, when the US Treasury banned seven serving and former officers of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which Prime has become synonymous. Anti-Terrorist Action of Minister Sheikh Hasina. The US government accused the RAB of forcibly “disappearing” at least 600. Mr Ahmed, who took over in 2015, served as the head of RAB till 2020. The restrictions included a travel ban on him and six others. But Ms Hasina’s Awami League government refused to budge from the sanctions and named her in the team of officials. The US protested, but still issued a visa for Mr. Ahmed.
India-Bangladesh Relations, a Model of Bilateral Cooperation
The episode highlights how posing on some issues with foreign critics helps Ms Hasina meet her core supporters domestically, but these periodic claims to power have left political stakeholders in Dhaka It has not prompted a dialogue process on the modalities of holding the next general election. The term of the current parliament expires at the end of 2023. Without credible institutional mechanisms, any reconciliation seems difficult. The ruling Awami League regards the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies as “anti-liberation”, while the BNP is unable to prove that it has matured and is ready to admit its past mistakes. .
The prospect of a stalled political process in Dhaka has attracted the attention of both allies such as India and critics such as the US. Ms Hasina has reached out to both India and the West to make a solid case for herself ahead of the upcoming election season.
special relationship with India
In fact, two factors that have defined Sheikh Hasina’s government during her three terms are her warmth towards India, with which she has cultivated close security and economic partnerships, and her less frequent engagement with the US and the European Union (EU). Have warm relations. Interestingly, his critics and allies are facing some difficult choices in Bangladesh’s election season.
A rather visible and sometimes aggressive public stance was taken by both the EU and the US on the alleged ‘democratic deficit’ in Bangladesh following the surprise sanctions last December. There were several high-level representatives from several European countries who visited Bangladesh in the first half of 2022 when pressure mounted. The situation reached such an extent that US Ambassador Peter Haas met Bangladesh’s chief election commissioner on 8 June and urged for “free and fair” elections, an argument he made a thought shortly after Prime Minister Hasina’s return last week. The tank was repeated in the program. Ms Hasina, on her part, has responded to criticism by frequently attacking her alleged US support for some of her political opponents, including Nobel Peace Prize-winning Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus.
There is a widespread belief that the World Bank withdrew funds from Ms Hasina’s dream project, the Padma Multi-Purpose Bridge, which was fueled by her political opponents at home and her supporters in the West, a broad spectrum that included the BNP, Mr Yunus Huh. and traditionally pro-Pakistan Islamists in Bangladesh. On June 25 during the inauguration of the historic bridge, which is one of the biggest connectivity projects in South Asia in recent years, Ms Hasina attacked those who opposed the bridge. From his words it seemed that they Those who opposed the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 were also opposing development works in the country in the 21st century.
It was against this background that Ms Hasina visited India in the first week of September to conclude a landmark agreement on the Kushiyara River, the only water-related treaty between the two sides. Signed last quarter. This visit signifies the continuity and the special relationship that Ms Hasina has with India. But the discussions in New Delhi did not lead to an agreement on the sharing of Teesta’s water or transit facility between Northeast and West Bengal, indicating that despite the heated exchange, the two sides have not given up ground on larger issues. according to a During discussions with Ms Hasina, a highly placed source from Bangladesh, the Indian leadership showed interest in the future of the ruling Awami League as well as their succession plans. Ms Hasina has used friendship with India to ensure energy stability and land trade for Bangladesh, but India too is viewing Bangladesh’s tense political climate with some concern.
Over the years, official circles in India have expressed concern about the rise of hardline leaders within the Awami League, as well as the party’s pro-China leanings.
‘A great macroeconomic story’
However, Ms Hasina sent the right message to her Western critics by choosing India as her host just ahead of the annual session of the UN General Assembly and, as it happened, the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral was briefly, in 2022. He is not the troubled leader who rose to power after surviving several fatal attempts on his life, including a grenade attack in 2004. In 2022, even by US Ambassador Haas’ assessment, Bangladesh has “a great macroeconomic story”. This new identity of Bangladesh has received ready support from India; In September, India named its eastern neighbor as a special invitee for the G20 summit to be held in Delhi in September 2023.
However, sustained economic moves to become a middle-income economy by 2026 will require political dialogue at home, for which greater political freedom and tolerance of dissent are prerequisites. The future of Bangladesh and the peaceful outcome of the upcoming election will depend not only on the much-awaited dialogue between the two oldest political parties in South Asia – the Awami League and the BNP – but also between the two opposing political traditions in Bangladesh. The question is, can such talks take place in a pre-poll atmosphere?