Bangladesh pushes back at US over visa curbs ahead of election

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Tensions are rising between Bangladesh and the west because the US pressures prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian authorities to make sure the integrity of upcoming elections.

Sheikh Hasina, who has been in energy since 2009, has cracked down on political opposition and curtailed democratic freedoms in what analysts say is an try and sway the end result of the polls, that are anticipated by January.

The US final month imposed visa restrictions on an unspecified variety of Bangladeshis for “undermining the democratic election course of”. Members of legislation enforcement, the ruling get together, and the political opposition had been amongst these included, the US state division mentioned.

Britain has additionally pressed Sheikh Hasina’s authorities to make sure elections are “free, truthful, participatory and peaceable”.

Bangladesh’s authorities has pushed again towards western censure. Overseas minister AK Abdul Momen mentioned the visa coverage was Washington’s “prerogative” however in an interview with the Monetary Occasions in Dhaka final month, he dismissed criticism of the election build-up as “false propaganda on Bangladesh”, evaluating it with western interventions in Iraq and elsewhere.

“Have a look at Iraq, what did you do, within the identify of false propaganda?” he mentioned, suggesting that some within the west may need to “make chaos” in Bangladesh.

After the visa restrictions had been imposed, Momen instructed the FT that he had been exhorting world leaders to “examine their info appropriately” with regard to the state of affairs in Bangladesh.

“Sadly, right now persons are hard-pressed for time and don’t have a behavior of studying,” he mentioned whereas within the US to attend the UN Common Meeting.

He added that relations with US president Joe Biden and secretary of state Antony Blinken had been nonetheless “superb”.

Any rigidity in relations may spill into regional geopolitics. Sheikh Hasina has sought to advertise the nation of 170mn as a growth success, largely on the again of its monumental garment sector, which depends on exports to the US and Europe. She has additionally cultivated nearer ties with India and China.

The nation’s home politics have been marred by a decades-long, usually bloody rivalry between her Awami League and the rival Bangladesh Nationalist get together. Sheikh Hasina’s earlier re-elections, in 2014 and 2018, had been dogged by low participation and allegations of electoral manipulation.

The US state division mentioned its visa penalties mirrored “issues the place we see actions that undermine democracy and human rights in Bangladesh”, including that it supported “the need of the individuals of Bangladesh to freely select their leaders”.

A earlier spherical of US sanctions in 2021 focused Bangladesh’s Speedy Motion Battalion, a police unit accused of disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Michael Kugelman, a senior affiliate on the Washington-based Wilson Heart think-tank, mentioned Washington’s stress over the elections was a part of a regional technique to restrict China’s affect by selling democracy as a substitute for authoritarian governments.

“The Biden administration has made Bangladesh a check case for its values-based overseas coverage,” he mentioned. “It’s a giant gamble . . . If Dhaka begins to really feel more and more boxed in by Washington, it might be tempted to gravitate nearer to China.”

Kugelman mentioned retaining energy might be existential for Sheikh Hasina, who additionally dominated Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001. Beneath Awami League rule, senior BNP leaders have been hounded by authorized instances and 1000’s of activists arrested.

If the Awami League loses energy, “they might probably be subjected to ferocious campaigns of retributive politics . . . very similar to what the ruling get together has meted out to the opposition”, he mentioned.

“The specter of US visa restrictions received’t deter Awami League leaders in the event that they’re bent on holding on to energy in any respect prices.”