Even if the much-anticipated meeting between Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the BNP, the leading political party in Bangladesh, fails to fulfil the high expectations of bridging differences over the recently unveiled election roadmap, London has nonetheless emerged as the place where the interim government's strategy gained much-needed clarity. This was largely due to the Royal Institute of International Affairs, commonly known as Chatham House, hosting Prof Yunus for a discussion and Q&A session focused on Bangladesh's future trajectory. The conversation addressed both domestic issues, such as elections, democracy, and institutional reforms, and foreign policy concerns, particularly relations with India and the Rohingya refugee crisis. This context underscores a glaring issue: the Chief Adviser's Office still lacks an effective communication strategy. Had similar interactive press sessions been held in Dhaka over the past 10 mo...

Bangladesh has had two elections since the system of a non-partisan caretaker government overseeing elections was abolished. One was boycotted by most of the parties except the allies of the ruling Awami League, and the other was participated in by all the registered and unregistered parties. In reality, neither could be termed participatory, as voters were practically disenfranchised on both occasions. As we approach the third consecutive election to be held under the AL administration—which has so far been a restaging of 2014, due to the boycott by opposition parties—one question that worries everyone is: how will the world react? It is clear why Awami League is so desperate to make January 7, 2024 look like a genuine competition, without any real competitors. Allowing aspirants of ruling party tickets to run as independents against ruling party nominees has already resulted in numerous bloody, internecine conflicts. Discontent among the ruling party’s allies, too, makes the future o...

  Exactly six months ago, BNP’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who is now in prison charged with subversive acts in nearly a dozen new cases,  expressed his apprehension that the government wanted to keep BNP out of the election. Police reportedly filed these new cases after the violent ending of BNP’s grand rally on October 28. He already had about 84 cases pending, stemming from his party’s campaign for reintroduction of election time caretaker government since 2013, after the ruling party Awami League unilaterally abolished it, relying on its super majority in parliament and a controversial court verdict.  On July 15, Fakhrul told journalists that by randomly implicating BNP leaders and activists in false cases, reviving cold cases, and fast tracking trials the government wanted to ensure it would keep BNP out of the election race. By the time polling schedule was announced, his apprehension became true, as most of his senior colleagues and thousands o...

It’s now clear that the 12th parliamentary election will be largely a contest between the official nominees of the Awami League and those who have been declined nomination by the party. Officially, there are about 29 registered political parties in the race, but most of their participation is something better to be described as token representation. Even the total number of nominees of the three much-hyped parties - Bangladesh Nationalist Movement (BNM), Trinamool BNP, or Bangladesh Supreme Party (BSP) – could not equal the 300 seats, that are up for grabs. Apart from propping up these three  “king’s parties,’ there have been several attempts to break up and weaken the opposition BNP and its alliance, who have been mounting street agitation for over a year, demanding  a reintroduction of the caretaker government for overseeing the upcoming parliamentary election. But such attempts including bringing in General Ibrahim’s Kalyan Party to the electoral race didn’t incur a meaning...

Chief election commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal’s latest plea to the parties to take initiatives to solve the ongoing political crisis is quite intriguing. Though his admission that a political crisis really exists is at odds with the government’s claim of a conducive environment, his argument that the commission neither has the capacity nor the mandate to resolve it is only reneging itself of authority and responsibility. If it believes that there’s a crisis which makes ensuring a free and fair election impossible, how can it justify proceeding with holding an election without resolving the crisis?  The EC’s much publicised dialogue with all the registered parties took place after the 90-days countdown began till the 12th national election. Now the EC stands to have sufficient legal authority to ask the executive branch for taking all necessary steps to create a fair and competitive environment. Many observers had thought that, ahead of the dialogue the EC would take required steps ...

  Our worst apprehension, which we so desperately wanted to escape, has tragically become reality with an avoidable loss of lives - of a policeman and an opposition activist. With the government’s change of heart in allowing the opposition BNP to hold its grand rally in front of its party office in Nayapaltan, Dhaka, we thought the tension that had risen due to the ruling party’s vow to keep hold on the city streets would be eased. Despite reports of several obstructive measures being put in place to restrict a huge flow of opposition supporters entering Dhaka, there was little chances, until midday, that the protest would become violent.  Observers were rather worried over how the stand-off between police and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh activists over the latter’s vow to hold an unauthorised grand rally at Shapla Chattar turn out. Instead of any trouble, Jamaat was allowed to have its rally, just a few hundred metres away from their planned spot in Motijheel. It was so content...

  Hearing the ruling party’s general secretary say that the BNP's October 28 rally in the capital would face a similar reaction as did the one on December 10, we can now gauge what the intention of the government is. Perhaps, many of us have already started adjusting our diaries, out of fear of violence or to avoid harassment in the name of heightened security. The possibility of another unannounced shutdown ( better to be called a hartal enforced by the supporters of the ruling party) may also encourage them to leave Dhaka simply to avoid any additional sufferings.  The warning given to the opposition BNP by Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader for its expressed intent is undoubtedly worrying and deplorable. On the other hand, it is also an admission that the government did crack down on the opposition on December 7, 2022, for which they had so far put the blame on the BNP’s alleged subversive activities.  Many questions still remain unanswered as to why the gov...

  The highly publicised appearance of a new poll monitoring group appears to have impressed many of us in Bangladesh with their high-level interactions with the Election Commission, ministers and a few other politicians. They were joined by quite a few foreigners, too, who have expressed their full confidence in the EC’s ability to organise fair elections. It was probably the current EC’s first formal meeting on the issue of election monitoring with some ‘’to be monitors.’’ Though chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and four other commissioners spent about an hour meeting those local and foreign so-called observers, there was no communique or statement issued on the EC’s behalf. Unfortunately, colleagues in the media who have covered the event didn't tell us anything beyond what the chief of the local monitoring organisation and his foreign companions told them. As far as we know, the EC is yet to announce the list of the poll monitoring organisations who recieved their a...

  The shocking assault on Ashraful Alam (better known as Hero Alom), who is largely deemed a political and cultural outcast, that took place in the poshest neighbourhood of our capital city has been termed as “unfortunate” by Election Commissioner Md Alamgir. His narration of events taking place at the Banani Bidyaniketan School and College polling centre is completely different from what the media have reported, and more than a dozen video clips available on social media platforms show. One may wonder from where the commissioner got his briefing?  While speaking to reporters at the Election Commission, Alamgir admitted the fact that the EC was yet to know the actual picture, but happily blamed Hero Alom for the whole incident. Election Commissioner Md Alamgir said, “An independent candidate tried to enter a polling centre with his supporters and at least 70 YouTubers." According to him, as police tried to stop them the candidate engaged in an altercation with the law enforcer...