Better late than never, though I am not sure Sheikh Hasina Wazed would have won a free vote either (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/opinion/editorials/bangladesh-election-sheikh-hasina.html?fbclid=IwAR0WHcijPV-mdyyWil5ai0iY9MkvBgjqWQWm6llz408Ttjxk-9u5OmzXY_U) . But the NYT and it’s ilk share the blame too: time and again and again they have given space to the junta’s craven apologists (like K Anis Ahmed, a pro-regime publisher who, along with his American wife, owns the junta’s flagship college with the ironic name of University of Liberal Arts, who wrote a big pro-dictatorship piece just a week before the elections) to advocate for the dictatorship. Before that, it was the the kids of two major newspaper editors (kids who live in the freedom that America provides) who waxed eloquent about the ‘glory of the Awami League’ on those pages. The liberal-progressive crowd in the salons of New York, DC, and London has to share the responsibility for normalizing these tyrants…as do many of the civil society types in Bangladesh. That cup of tea at Gonobhobon (the official residence of the dictator) or getting that minister at your daughter’s wedding or son’s new company inauguration is worth the last sliver of conscience for these Bangladeshi pseudo-savants.
Even as it condemns the farcical vote, however, the New York Times, whitewashes the legacy of the Awami League when it merely says Sheikh Hasina Wazed’s father ‘was killed’ in 1975. The truth is that the father usurped the Westminister constitution of 1973, instituted a one-party Stalinist state in 1975 via the infamous “Fourth Amendment” that abolished all parties (except his own), shut down all newspapers (except the four owned by his family members), and mandated that the judiciary, civil servants, and military officers take oaths of personal loyalty to him. To make sure his diktats were followed, he created the “Rakhi Bahini” paramilitary force that was, by law, put outside the ambit of judicial review for its activities. His own sons (Sheikh Hasina’s brothers) were well known for using the Rakhi Bahini to abduct women and loot businesses. Against this backdrop of utter tyranny, was the daddy’s rule ended amidst a coup which paved the way for the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1977.
Bold assertions Esam! I like the piece, alot!
This is the best I read from you. Great initiative. Need more people like you. As protesrs are not possible now from inside BD, we need NRBs to come forward. Regards.
The ‘Western Media’ does not owe the world a complete and exhaustive explanation of the entire backstory of BD politics every time it covers the place. Fer Krissake, the NYT International section is only 5 pages on the average day (and it is considered a leading outlet for international news in the USA!), there are 194 recognised nations in the world, 26 of which are in open war or civil war, and another 30 or so have problems with internal rebellion or terrorism, and that does not include the ones, like the US and India, which have government sanctioned terrorist movements of one kind or another. That’s a lot to cover in 5 page.
I would prefer the word ‘shot’ myself, because it eliminates such deaths as road accident, disease or falling off a horse in the annual May Day parade, but, really, what matters in this context is that he’s been dead for yonks, and his daughter is now playing fast and loose with the elections, if such they were. There is absolutely nothing the rest of us can do about the past, yours or ours. We can, however, do something about the future.
So, the more articles that expose the corruption and brutality of *today* we see, the happier I am. Once *these* problems are solved, we will have the luxury of rewriting the thrice rewritten history of Beautiful Bangladesh.
Mind you, by that time, half the country will probably be underwater, given the accelerating speed of climate change and sea level rise, so possibly there will be other things to worry about….