As the Election Commission in Bangladesh is set to declare the schedule for the forthcoming general election, lobbyists and agents of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have intensified their activities in Washington, London and other Western capitals with the agenda of putting the ruling Awami League government under tremendous pressure.
A number of sources in the US Capitol told this correspondent that the United States and few more western countries may intensify pressure of Bangladesh through numerous ways as the Biden administration is desperately looking for replacing Awami League government with Bangladesh Nationalist Party as several key leaders of BNP have made pledges of “unconditionally listening to the US dictations”.
The source further said, following declaration of election schedule, Washington would begin publishing names of individuals restricted from entering the United States. At the same time, phase-wise sanctions would be imposed.
“The entire blueprint is to create an atmosphere of extreme fear and wariness in Bangladesh”, the source added.
Meanwhile, on August 17, 2023, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the BNP knows they won’t come to power through election by securing people’s votes, and that is why the party is engaged in conspiracy to thwart the next election.
“BNP, the party of killers of Father of the Nation which is involved in terrorism, militancy, bombing and grenade attacks, knows that they will never come to power through elections and they will not get the votes of the people, and that is why they are engaged in conspiracy to make the election questionable and foil the election” she said.
Sheikh Hasina also alleged that the secret motive of some foreign countries is to hinder the progress of Bangladesh and use the Bay of Bengal behind their interest in the election and democracy of this country.
“They want to create a (unstable) situation in this country on different excuses, including election, democracy and different other names, so that they can use the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. The purpose of some of them is to attack different countries in this region and destroy those countries”.
She said their purpose is neither (arrangement of) an election nor democracy. “They want to create obstacles on the development journey of Bangladesh. It is the reality”.
Bangabandhu’s killer propagates BNP
According to an exclusive report published in Blitz, Shariful Haque Dalim, one of the self-confessed killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who has been on the run for decades has been continuously expressing his support for BNP. According to the ‘X’ (former Twitter) handle of this killer, Shariful Haque Dalim is seen demanding release of Khaleda Zia, chairperson of BNP, who has been serving rigorous imprisonment on graft cases.
On August 2, 2023, Bangabandhu’s killer Dalim in a tweet wrote: “Bangladesh Judiciary fails to provide justice under the current regime. The Courts in Dhaka extended the deadline for submitting the probe report of a case filed over the murders of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi for more than 100 times. However, politically motivated court delivered the judgment today against BNP acting chairman @Tariqbnp and his wife Zubaida Rahman within a short period of time without a valid ground”.
Unfortunately, this bombshell report has been totally ignored by the leaders of ruling Awami League as well as print and electronic media in Bangladesh.
Commenting on such lethargy of Awami League leaders and members as well as media establishments in Bangladesh on such an important issue, a media personality in Dhaka seeking anonymity said, “Truth is 75 percent of the media in Bangladesh is either owned or controlled by members of BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami. During the past 15 years, these elements succeeded in extracting numerous benefits from the Awami League government by pretending to be pro-liberation forces.
But as the next general election is just weeks away and there is strong speculations of the United States imposing sanctions on at least 11 individuals from Bangladesh and as the US Department of State has already declared visa policy for Bangladesh nationals only, no one is willing to take any risk”.
