 "‘Bangladesh’s Yunus govt failed to control ‘mobocracy’’: BNP leader on attack on Indian mission")
Bangladesh’s interim ruler Muhammad Yunus has failed in maintaining law and order and the country has descended into “mobocracy”, former minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has told CNN-News 18.
Amid ongoing political violence and anti-India campaign in the country, mobs have repeatedly targeted Indian missions. Last week, mobs pelted stones at the Indian Assistant High Commission in Chattogram in the presence of police.
“This is not democracy. This is mobocracy,” Chowdhury said about such attacks.
Since the news of death of Sharif Osman Hadi, a prominent figure in last year’s movement that ousted then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, broke last week, Bangladesh has been in the grips of widespread violence that has seen targeted attacks on Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), media organisations like Prothom Alo and Daily Star newspapers, and Indian missions.
Such a state of affairs showed that Yunus’ administration has been a “failure”, according to Chowdhury, who served as the commerce minister in Khaleda Zia’s government of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
‘Tools to obstruct elections’
As the wave of nationwide violence has erupted just weeks before scheduled elections, Chowdhury said that mob violence and unchecked protests are being used as “tools to obstruct elections” and delay a return to an elected government.
Bangladesh is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections and a referendum on the ‘July charter’ on February 12. It has been pointed that ongoing violence appears to be aimed at delaying elections so that Islamist forces in the country could further consolidate themselves.
Chowdhury said that attacks on diplomatic missions send a dangerous signal to the entire world and warned these were not isolated incidents.
“These are not just stray or isolated incidents. They are planned attempts to destabilise the country and disturb the democratic and electoral process by creating fear and chaos,” said Chowdhury.
Quick Reads
View AllAs for the elections, Chowdhury said, “People are ready to cast their votes. They are just waiting for the election. Candidates are working in their constituencies. People waited for almost decades to cast votes. They could not exercise their franchise in the last three-four elections. There is a clear sense of ownership among the people. Yet instead of ensuring stability and bringing order, the interim government is presiding over disorder.”
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