Bangladesh : US Visa Restrictions Spark Diplomatic Showdown

Bangladesh : In recent developments, tensions have been steadily mounting between Bangladesh and Western powers, primarily the United States, over concerns surrounding the integrity of the upcoming elections.

The Bangladesh government, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina since 2009, has faced allegations of suppressing political opposition and curtailing democratic freedoms in what analysts perceive as an attempt to influence the election outcomes, which are anticipated to take place by January.

Last month, the United States took a significant step by imposing visa restrictions on an undisclosed number of Bangla individuals for “undermining the democratic election process.” This list includes members of law enforcement, ruling party members, and political opposition figures, as stated by the US State Department.

Bangladesh US Relations Issue

Britain has also joined in the calls, urging Sheikh Hasina’s government to ensure that the upcoming elections are “free, fair, participatory, and peaceful.”

However, the Bangla government has responded with a defiant stance against Western criticism. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen dismissed allegations of election interference as “false propaganda on Bangladesh” and even drew parallels with Western interventions in other countries like Iraq, hinting at a potential agenda to disrupt the peace in Bangla.

Foreign Minister Momen emphasized the importance of fact-checking and lamented that people today lack the habit of thorough reading and research. Despite the tensions, he asserted that relations with US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken remained “very good.”

This escalating tension between Bangladesh and the United States has the potential to reverberate across regional geopolitics. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought to position Bangla, with its 170 million population, as a development success, largely riding on the success of its massive garment sector, heavily reliant on exports to the US and Europe. Additionally, she has cultivated closer ties with regional giants India and China.

The internal politics of Bangladesh has been marred by a long-standing and often violent rivalry between Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League and the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Her previous re-elections in 2014 and 2018 were marked by low participation and allegations of electoral manipulation.

The US State Department justified its visa restrictions as a response to concerns about actions that “undermine democracy and human rights in Bangladesh,” emphasizing its support for the desire of the Bangla people to freely choose their leaders.

This move by the US aligns with a broader regional strategy aimed at limiting China’s influence by promoting democracy as an alternative to authoritarian governments. Michael Kugelman, a senior associate at the Washington-based Wilson Center think-tank, described this as a “big gamble” for the Biden administration and noted that Bangla has become a test case for its values-based foreign policy.

For Sheikh Hasina, retaining power is of existential importance. Her rule has seen senior BNP leaders facing legal charges and the arrest of thousands of activists. If the Awami League were to lose power, Kugelman suggests they might experience “ferocious campaigns of retributive politics,” mirroring what the ruling party has imposed on the opposition.

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