Amidst Violence And Boycott Call Hasina Makes A Predictable Victory
By Nava
Thakuria, New Age Islam
9 January
2024
When
Bangladesh embraced 12th general elections on Sunday (a working day for the
Muslim majority nation) amidst violence and boycott call from the prime
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), it was predicted that the ruling
Awami League (AL) led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will win for the fourth
consecutive term to lead the poverty stricken south Asian country.
Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina
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The
incumbent AL won 222 Parliamentary seats, where the voters’ turnout was low. A
compromised opposition Jatiya Party won 11 seats and three smaller parties
emerged successful in one seat each. Significantly independent candidates succeeded in 62 constituencies, a record since its birth
as a nation in 1971, to enter the Jatiya Sansad, the highest legislative body
of the populous country which is strategically located between India and
Myanmar.
The polling
took place from 8 am till 4 pm, where
nearly 120 million registered electorates were supposed to exercise
their franchise under high security arrangements as the 170 million nation
often report widespread poll-related violence, but less than 42% voters’
turnout was recorded. To encourage the electorate, PM Hasina, accompanied by her sister Sheikh
Rehana and daughter Saima Wazed, cast her vote as the first individual in Dhaka
City College polling station. Over
750,000 police and paramilitary forces were deployed on the ground, where
Bangladesh Army, Navy, and Air Force personnel were on duty to ensure security
during the single day polls in 261,912 polling booths under 42,024 voting
centres across the country.
More than
200 foreign observers representing over 30 countries and organisations like the
Commonwealth, European Union, US-based International Republican Institute,
South Asia Democratic Forum, National Democratic Institute, etc were in the
country to monitor the election. Three senior members of the Election
Commission of India also joined the group. Over
20,000 Bangla observers
representing 84 organizations were also engaged in the process.
Sporadic
incidents of violence and rigging of polls were reported, as BNP leaders called
for a 48-hour Hartal (general strike) beginning from 6 am on Saturday till 6 am
on Monday. Alleging that polls
under Hasina's government would not be fair and fair, the BNP and its
political allies stick to their demand to conduct the election under a neutral
caretaker government in Dhaka, which Hasina denied. Jamaat-e-Islami, a radical party of
Bangladesh, also took out processions in
the capital city on Sunday supporting the BNP’s boycott call.
BNP’s
president Khaleda Zia (78 years old) is
ailing and with more to it the former Bangla Prime Minister is under house
arrest for graft charges. Even the party’s acting president Tarique Rahman has
been living in self-imposed exile since 2008. Son of former Bangla President
Ziaur Rahman and Zia, even faced 18 months jail term before leaving to London
and staying there till date. So the party has been termed as a leaderless
entity on the ground and they are assumed not to be in a position to contest
the elections.
Hasina (76)
had earlier won the national elections continuously from 2008 to 2019 to establish herself as the
longest-serving government head among women in the world. Daughter of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina maintained that only her party can
lead Bangladesh towards peace, prosperity and growth. In the election
manifesto, Hasina promised to convert the digital Bangladesh to a Smart
Bangladesh. She also assured that her party will always protect and promote the
spirit of democracy, offer quality education to youths, modernise agriculture,
make healthcare services affordable to all, etc.
The
Paris-based global media rights body Reporters Sans/Without Borders (RSF) in a
statement issued on Tuesday condemned
unacceptable violence against the journalists during Bangladesh polls,
when at least 12 reporters were attacked and expelled or denied entry to voting
stations, in most cases by supporters of the Hasina’s party.
“Bangladesh’s
general elections were marred by unacceptable violence against journalists.
Ruling party supporters attacked reporters covering cases of electoral fraud.
We call on the relevant authorities to launch an independent investigation so
that those responsible are brought to justice. Furthermore, in a context of
stifled media freedom, muzzled by governmental suppression of all criticism, we
urge the newly re-elected authorities to finally adopt strong measures to
safeguard unrestricted Internet access and protect the freedom of the press
enshrined in Bangladesh's constitution and freedom of expression, which is
being obstructed by the draconian new Cyber Security Act. The government’s
toxic control over news and information must end,” said an RSF statement.
On a
polling day marked by tension – with the main opposition party (BNP) boycotting
the polls- many journalists were physically attacked or were subjected to
harassment and intimidation, and were either expelled from or were denied entry
to voting stations. Most of the harassment and violence was the work of ruling Awami
League supporters targeting reporters trying to cover irregularities and cases
of fraud. In another serious violation of the right to report, access to the
website of Daily Manab Zamin, a leading media critic, was blocked on 6 January.
The newspaper stressed that it had no internal technical issues when it
reported the ongoing access problem in an alternate media message on the
previous day to voting.
“The
Bangladeshi authorities also refused to issue visas to journalists from the
headquarters of many leading international media outlets, including BBC News,
The New York Times, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Al Jazeera.
Most of the foreign reporters who managed to obtain visas were those based in
New Delhi. Some foreign reporters were also asked to sign a statement accepting
that their photos and video footage would have to be approved by the
Bangladeshi authorities before being sent, and could not harm the national
image,” added the statement.
Even though
the United States of America expressed dissatisfaction over the polls as not
being ‘free or fair, India remains sympathetic to Hasina as she maintains a
comfortable relationship with New Delhi. Her strong actions against the
north-eastern militants (taking shelter in Bangladesh) as well as various
initiatives to enhance bilateral economic ties with India had already been
appreciated by the billion plus nation.
It’s logically expected that the regime in Dhaka will safeguard the
interest of religious minorities (Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, etc.) in the land
of Bengalis in any situation, as Hasina is traditionally considered as a
pro-Indian in nature compared to her rival Begum Zia.
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Nava Thakuria is a northeast India-based
professional journalist who is an engineering graduate.
URL: https://newageislam.com/current-affairs/violence-boycott-hasina-victory/d/131482
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