Mahmudur Rahman

The officially declared position of the European Union (EU) on human rights and democracy states:

“The EU is a firm promoter and defender of human rights and democracy across the world, as well as within its own borders. Human rights are universal, indivisible, and interdependent. Respect for human rights and democracy is essential for addressing global challenges”. (Eeas.europa.EU, https://www.eeas.europa.eu>eeas)

Josep Borrell Fontelles, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs of the EU further writes in the foreword of the 2020-2024 EU Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy,

“EU leadership on human rights and democracy is needed more than ever. As autocracies grow in strength and in number around the world, many have faced little pressure to curb their abuses”.

Unfortunately, the same EU has consistently failed on the human rights and democratic rights of 170 million people of Bangladesh during the last decade, victims of one of the most vicious despotic regimes in the contemporary world. The ruling Sheikh Hasina government arranged a farcical, violence-ridden single-party election in 2014 and again disenfranchised the citizens in 2018 by stuffing the ballot boxes the night before the election with blatant and cynical use of law-enforcing agencies and party thugs while the West remained obsessed with its Islamophobia. On both occasions, after issuing muted, so-called balanced, and diplomatic protest notes, the EU returned to “business as usual” mode as geopolitical considerations in South Asia received preference over human rights and democratic values. After all, the lure of the Indian market is too strong to disturb the proxy state of India.

The successive EU Ambassadors in Dhaka during the period actually went beyond the diplomatic engagement approach and became friends of the fascist ruler, herself accused of a crime against humanity as the Police and RAB and DGFI went on the rampage in implementing Hasina’s dirty work of government-sanctioned enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. Thousands were killed and went missing. Some of the Excellency EU Ambassadors were seen so eager to publicly please Sheikh Hasina, the undeclared monarch, that jokes were abundant in the domestic political circles that EU ambassadors in Bangladesh may be wishing to contest for the position of the ruling Awami League General Secretary. We have no idea whether the appeasement policy came from their respective home offices or the Ambassadors themselves went overboard. The failure of the EU to follow the US sanctions against the notorious RAB in 2022, reinforced the belief in the mind of the persecuted Bangladeshi people that the EU in fact, is in cahoots with the persecutor in Dhaka either for commercial interest or to please India.

The victory of the Democrat nominee in the 2020 US Presidential election has brought a noticeable positive change in the South Asian policy of the US. It appears that the Bush-Obama-Trump era of “blank cheque” is finally time-barred. The US sanction in 2022 against a few selected, heinous perpetrators of human rights abuse followed by successive snubs from Washington by excluding Bangladesh in the Democratic Summits has clearly unnerved the Delhi-sponsored fascist in Dhaka. As a consequence, her arrogance that she can get away with a third dirty election at the end of 2023 has received a big jolt. Last week’s meeting of the EU delegation with BNP, the largest and the main opposition party in Bangladesh has also been very significant and timely.

After a long period of fence-sitting, the EU appears to be taking note of the abysmal human rights situation in Bangladesh. During the meeting with the EU delegation, the BNP leadership has given the firm and unequivocal message that under no circumstances the main opposition political party would participate in any farcical election under the Hasina regime to give legitimacy to the continuation of a Myanmar and North Korea-like government in Dhaka. By boycotting the 2014 election and participating in the 2018 election, the party leadership has proven beyond doubt that elections under the Hasina regime are no different than elections held under the Myanmar military Junta, North Korea’s Kim, and Lukashenko of Belarus. According to our diplomatic sources in Dhaka, the firm and logical stand of the BNP has dampened the optimism among some of the EU friends of the fascist ruler that somehow the BNP leadership would again be lured to fall into Hasina’s 2018 trap. The oppressed people of Bangladesh, disenfranchised for more than a decade by a bloodthirsty despot, have welcomed the decision of the BNP.

The ball is now at the court of the EU. We hope that the democratic block would now show the same moral and political resolve to challenge the South Asian kleptocrat, tiny lady dictator as it had shown to Putin to punish Russian aggression against Ukraine. The Economist has clearly stated that Sheikh Hasina is seeking to make Bangladesh a “One Party State”. According to the internationally acclaimed media, as a state, Bangladesh is rotting from the head. We urge all the member states of the EU and UK to follow Washington and announce effective sanctions against all law-enforcing agencies in Bangladesh including RAB, Detective Branch (DB) of Police, NSI, and DGFI for their involvement in the enforced disappearance and extra-judicial killings. It may be noted that Abdullah Al-Mamun, the current Inspector General of Police in Bangladesh is himself a US-sanctioned police personnel for his dirty crime. The EU sanction list should start with his name.

The international community that truly believes in human rights and democratization should express its full support to the people’s revolution to remove the fascist regime in Bangladesh and establish democracy at the earliest. History teaches us that engagements with brutal dictators have only brought disaster and sufferings to humankind. Let’s unitedly take a sincere effort to put a stop to the rise of autocracies around the world.

Editor-Amar Desh

12-03-2023