|
Is Sheikh Hasina turning Bangladesh into a one-party state?
[Al Jazeera] The controversial jailing of former Bangladesh Prime Minister  Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... and the state persecution of dissent have raised fears that the next parliamentary election could turn into a violent sham. Fear of a 2014 repeat, when the parliamentary elections were boycotted by almost all the opposition parties and marred by large-scale violence and killings, runs high in Bangladesh as the ruling Awami League (AL) government faces allegations of a concerted persecution of its opponents. While activists and political workers opposed to the government live under an increasing threat of being jugged Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! or worse, there is widespread concern, even among the common people, over what lies ahead in an election year. Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh are due by December. Nadia Tabassum Khan, an employee of a multinational company in Dhaka, told Al Jazeera that the Awami League has suppressed all dissent to such an extent that she doesn't think "anyone would dare to protest against them". Hasan Habib is the owner of a real estate company based in Dhaka. He says "the enmities between the two leading political parties" have made the voting process "a nearly impossible task". Enforced disappearance Since the controversial imprisonment of Bangladesh's opposition leader and two-time Prime Minister Khaleda Zia last month, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the government of Prime Minister  ...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since the Lower Paleolithic. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangla. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide. She and the head of the BNP, Khaleda Zia show such blind animosity toward each other that they are known as the Battling Begums.. to reject allegations of turning into an authoritarian regime. Zia was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for five years on February 8 for embezzling 21 million takas ($253,000) in foreign donations meant for a charity named after former President Ziaur Rahman, Zia's husband. Her elder son and heir apparent, Tarique Rahman ...the elder son of former President of Bangladesh Ziaur Rahman Bir Uttam, and Khaleda Zia, former Prime Minister of Bangladesh. He is the Senior Vice Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). His nickname is Pino. There are allegations that Pino took a rakeoff from every foreign investment into the country while Mom was in office... , and four others were also sentenced to 10 years in prison. Nearly a month later Zia was granted bail. However, it's easy to be generous with someone else's money... the country's Supreme Court stayed the bail within a week "without assigning any reason", effectively putting the 72-year-old leader in jail till May 8, when the next hearing on her bail application is expected to be held. The arrest and subsequent imprisonment of the former prime minister, which Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called the Hasina government's conspiracy to keep the opposition party out of politics, led to widespread violence in cities across Bangladesh, with BNP supporters clashing with police and ruling party members. Posted by: Fred 2018-04-05 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=511728 |