Was B’desh’s political transition brokered by US? Leaked recording kicks up row

New Delhi: Months after the Sheikh Hasina government was ousted in Bangladesh by a student-led mass movement, a leaked diplomatic recording from the US has kicked up a fresh storm and also ignited a series of claims and counterclaims about the 2024 political upheaval in the neighbouring nation.

The leaked US diplomatic recording has put Washington at the centre of fresh accusations, as many from the Awami League have started pointing fingers over the former’s alleged role in effecting a power transition in Bangladesh.

The recording, published by a leading daily, StratNews Global, has conversations of a senior US diplomat speaking about engaging Bangladesh’s Islamist political forces and assessing the country’s trajectory in the post-Hasina era.

This has intensified calls for scrutinising the US’s role in Bangladesh and also given a handle to Awami League leaders to launch scathing attacks on Yunous regime for alleged collaboration.

Former Bangladesh education minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury, speaking at an event recently, said the audio goes to validate what the Awami League had long argued — that the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime was not an entirely organic process.

Notably, Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee her country on August 5, 2024, after a student uprising resulted in a bloody stir, throwing the administration into complete disarray. She has been living in Delhi after leaving Bangladesh.

Hasan Chowdhury further pointed out that the US diplomat’s leaked audio conversation shows a ‘brazen conspiracy’ to manage post-election governments in Bangladesh and warned about the grave consequences arising from such a situation.

Taking strong exception to debarring of the Awami League from contesting elections, he said that excluding major political forces like the Awami League would disenfranchise large sections of the electorate, thus leading to an illegitimate government without a popular public mandate.

IANS