Bangladesh Civil Society in Europe has said that the letter sent by six EU parliamentary members, which stated concerns against the incumbent government of Bangladesh led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and advocated in the favour of BNP, has created a negative image of Bangladesh to outside world.
After very careful analysis of the contents of the letter, it was observed that all the incidents that they have mentioned are based on false and untrue information, says a press release issued on Sunday.
The six EU parliamentary members are – Ivan Štefanec (EPP, Slovak Republic), Michaela Šojdrová (EPP, Czech Republic), Dr Andrey Kovatchev (EPP, Bulgaria), Karen Melchior (Renew, Denmark), Javier Nart Peñalver (Renew, Spain), and Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland).
They have cited various aspects of human rights issues, extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, good governance, and democratic practice of Bangladesh, and requested to put economic, diplomatic and political pressure on Bangladesh.
A detail fact based on the aforementioned issues were prepared and signed by more than 300 prominent expatriate Bangladeshis and European citizens living in Europe including the world renowned scientist from the UK Dr Mazharul Islam Rana, prominent journalist Sharaf Ahmed from Germany, prominent engineer Anil Das Gupta from Germany, French National Cultural Award winner and Bangladesh top award winner famous mime artist Partha Pratim Majumder from France, nuclear scientists from Austria Dr Shaheed Hossain, international artist Professor Shohela Purvin Shova from France, Internationally renowned lawyers Barrister Dr Ziauddin from Belgium and Barrister Fowjia Akhter Popy from the UK, prominent physicians Dr Golam Rahat Khan (Babu) from UK and Dr Farhad Ali Khan from Sweden, prominent corporate personality Iqbal Moni from the UK, among others.
The extra-judicial killing and enforced disappearances have been started by Major General Ziaur Rahman, the founder of BNP, after the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members on 15th August 1975 which culminated in the extra-ordinary murder of four national leaders on 3rd November 1975.
According to the reports of Amnesty International, during Zia's five-and-half years in power, more than 2,000 military personnel were reported to have been executed.
During the power of BNP-Jamaat under Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia in 1991-1996 and 2001-2006, they have kept continuing the same fashion of torture, kidnapping, abduction and killing of opposition leaders and activists, journalists, minor community leaders including Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, and the Indigenous community.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite law enforcement body was formed during the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat E Islamli (Jamaat)'s rule in July 12, 2004. It has come out that within a period between July 2004 and October 2006, thousands of AL leaders and activists were arrested and tortured and a total of 1500 of them were killed in the name of crossfire.
During the 10th parliamentary election held in 2014, the BNP-Jamaat alliance let loose a reign of terror to resist the election. They vandalized and torched hundreds of vehicles.
As many as 200 people, including 20 law enforcers, were killed by their petrol bombs, handmade bombs and other sorts of violence.
During the 11th parliamentary election of 2018, BNP-Jamaat led coalition took part in the election and won in few seats. All other political parties have taken part in the election.
The allegation of the “Midnight Election” was an act of rumour and disinformation which was never proved. A recent Deutsche Welle and Ekattur TV's investigating reports have suggested that this claim was completely baseless.
In May 2011, the Supreme Court declared illegal the unelected non-partisan caretaker administration.
Later in June 2011, the 345-member legislature passed the 15th amendment of the constitution with its majority in Parliament by 291 to one. The cases of Begum Khaleda Zia in which she was sentenced to jail were filed by army-led caretaker Govt in 2008.
It will be advisable to carefully check how was the rule of laws or state of human rights during the BNP-Jamaat regimes. Especially, if we consider some incidents during the period of 2001-2006, we can get a clear picture.
According to the "Corruption Perception Index (CPI)" of the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI), Bangladesh became the world champion in corruption five times in a row from 2001 to 2006 thanks to the unbridled corruption and money laundering by the BNP-Jamaat alliance and the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's family members, including her both sons Arafat Rahman Koko and Tarique Rahman. Bangladesh has seen the rise of deadly Islamic Militancy during BNP-Jamaat regime in 2001-2006, with the direct patronization of the ruling parties. They have created Jamatul Mujahidin (JMB).
There have been a number of attacks on various institutions/individuals perceived un-Islamic. As a political party, Jamaat has acted against the liberation of Bangladesh during 1971, and the leaders of this party was involved in crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, mass systematic rape and sexual enslavement during the time of war, persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution etc. Most of the top leaders of this party were convicted and few of them have already got punishment already. On 1 August 2013, the Bangladesh Supreme Court cancelled the registration of the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The release stated: “We highly appreciate the long-time partnership and cooperation between Bangladesh and EU countries for trade and commerce, education and research, and all other development sectors. With the active participation of all EU member states and other development partner countries, Bangladesh has done a tremendous achievement on the economic and social fronts.”
According to the World Bank's definition of prosperity, Bangladesh has shifted from being a "low-income" to a "middle-income" country (United Nations Committee for Development Policy announced in March, 2018). The incumbent government has been doing extra-ordinarily well to maintain the ‘middle income' status.
The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working tirelessly for achieving the official deadline for graduation from the LDC category by 2026, fulfilling the UN's SDG goals by 2030 and transforming Bangladesh into a ‘developed and smart' nation by 2041. This nation is recognized now all over the world as a “Role Model of Development”. The so-called “Bottomless Basket” turns into “Over Flowing Bowl”.
“Proposing VISA restrictions or cutting the GSP+ incentive etc are not good diplomatic solutions. These will only harm a country and a harmless and peace-loving nation. Politicians all over the world should avoid these kinds of thoughts. We strongly believe that the cooperation of Bangladesh with all European countries will last longer,” it added.