Tens of thousands rally in Bangladesh to demand new elections
Al JazeeraDec 24, 2022
The Facts
Days after announcing his party would join opposition-led protests calling for the resignation of Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, the leader of the country's largest Muslim faction, Shafiqur Rahman of the Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat) party, was arrested on Tuesday.
The 64-year-old was arrested by counterterrorism officers, though metropolitan police spokesman Faruq Ahmed didn't elaborate on the charges. Jamaat — the nation's third-largest party overall — has been banned from contesting elections since 2012.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
When Bangladesh's elections were monitored by a non-partisan third party, they were deemed free and fair. But ever since that system ended in 2011, the general consensus is that elections have been shady. PM Hasina's ruling Awami League party seems to be operating under an authoritarian, power retention mindset, which is why the world is calling on them to bring back that system and stop criminalizing the opposition.
Establishment-critical narrative
Just as Bangladesh doesn't recommend which parties should run for office in the US and other Western states, Western diplomats should stay out of Dhaka's domestic affairs. These self-proclaimed "preachers of democracy" have ignored Bangladesh's economic and political prosperity, and, at the very least, should keep their thoughts on Bengali party politics to themselves.
