European delegation visits B’desh amid growing attacks on democracy,human rights: Awami League

Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Awami League party asserted that the ongoing visit of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights to the country takes place amid increasingly egregious assaults on the nation’s hard-won democracy and the fundamental human rights of its people under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.

The remarks were made during the ongoing visit of the EU’s five-member delegation to Bangladesh from September 16 to 18, which aims to analyse reforms and the human rights situation in the country.

Local media reported that the delegation includes Arkadiusz Mularczyk (ECR, PL), Urmas Paet (Renew Europe, Estonia), Mounir Satouri (Greens/EFA, FR), Human Rights Subcommittee Chair, Isabel Wiseler-Lima (EPP, Luxembourg), and Catarina Vieira (The Greens/EFA, The Netherlands).

“The EU delegation intends to use this visit to ‘learn more about the work of the interim government in promoting good governance and advancing human rights’ through conversations with government representatives. Yet any conversation with ordinary Bangladeshis will immediately disabuse the delegation of the notion that good governance and human rights have been promoted or advanced,” the Awami League stated.

Slamming the Yunus regime, the Awami League alleged that Bangladesh is now ruled by an “unelected head of state”, who has repeatedly delayed elections and banned the country’s largest political party.

It added that millions of Bangladeshi citizens have been effectively disenfranchised, while Awami League supporters, members of the media, and the judiciary have been arbitrarily detained on fabricated charges or stripped of their employment, simply because of their political allegiance.

Raising concern, the Awami League said that under the Yunus-led interim government, Bangladesh has turned into a country where minorities, women, and girls fear politically or religiously motivated acts of violence.

The Awami League urged the EU delegation to take note of the persecution, lawlessness, and authoritarian acts that have become embedded under the Yunus regime.

The party emphasised that neither economic growth nor civil society can return as long as the interim government unlawfully detains political opponents and tolerates violent attacks against religious and ethnic minorities.

IANS