Bangladesh: Opposition accuses India of interference amid violent two-day bandh

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the country’s opposition party, charged that India was supporting Sheikh Hasina’s dictatorial administration. Without providing any supporting proof, BNP senior joint secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi claimed on Sunday that India had chosen to adopt “a position against the people of Bangladesh”. “The Indian government and their politicians should understand why the people of Bangladesh have burst into anger against them. By supporting an authoritarian government, they [India] have taken a stance against the people of Bangladesh,” Rizvi was quoted as saying by Bangladesh-based newspaper The Daily Star. It is important to highlight that the BNP has declared that it will only participate in the elections in the event that Hasina steps down and allows an impartial authority to conduct the counting. BNP staged large-scale protests calling for Hasina’s resignation and the installation of a caretaker government in preparation for elections, with the backing of the Islamist group Jamaat-e-Islami. But in 2011, Bangladesh’s 15th Amendment to the Constitution did away with the caretaker regime. These demands, in the opinion of the government, violate the constitution. About half of the BNP’s five million members, according to the organisation, “face politically motivated prosecution.” On Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW), based in New York, stated that the government has begun a violent crackdown on opposition parties in an effort to “eliminate competition” before general elections. According to HRW, it analysed police reports, recordings, and several witness interviews in order to compile its findings. The Bangladesh Election Commission, however, has pushed the BNP to participate in the elections. “Time is not lost… If they participate, the election will be joyous. Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal declared, “If the party joins, it will be a blessing for the Election Commission and for the entire nation.” In Sylhet, two CNG-run autorickshaws and a microbus transporting a doctor were set on fire by supporters of the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami, the Swecchasebak Dal. “The vehicle was carrying a female doctor to the hospital when the miscreants attacked. The doctor remained unhurt, but the driver was injured while he was trying to douse the blaze,” Dr Tareq Azad, director of Jalalabad Ragib Rabeya Medical College Hospital, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.