Tag: Bangladesh

There is no last word in politics. Politicians are rarely the ones to acknowledge this truth about their vocation and rarely, if at all, are they in the habit of being candid about it. Call it a case of unrequited love but clearly, they felt ignored, even betrayed, by their party which refused to honour their wish by nominating their chosen candidates. It's ironic that another nomination aspirant had to suffer rejection because of a former lawmaker from the rival Awami League who had defected to BNP about two weeks ago. The exes and other disillusioned party members and leaders continue to threaten the veneer of unity so vital to BNP's plan to make a political comeback. A very persuasive letter sent to the rebels by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the leader of Awami League, seeks to bring them back into the party fold with a promise to reward their loyalty although, on earlier occasions, she had taken a much tougher stance, threatening to expel them from the party should they continue to resist the call for realignment. On that day, according to a report, there were violent scuffles in at least 18 districts between the activists of Awami League and BNP. Two leaders of the ruling party also died on that day. The pre-poll violence will most likely continue in the coming days. In all likelihood, these exes and people behaving like exes may have an unpredictable impact on the results of the upcoming election.

A brutal military crackdown last year forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh. Demands have mounted for those who waged the campaign to face justice. The UN's 444-page probe is the most meticulous breakdown of the violence to date. It says the military's top leadership should be overhauled and have no further influence over the country's governance. Myanmar's military dominates the Buddhist-majority nation, holding a quarter of seats in parliament and controlling three ministries, making their grip on power firm despite political reforms which began in 2011. But the report said the country's civilian leadership "should further pursue the removal of the Tatmadaw from Myanmar's political life", referring to the nation's armed forces. Myanmar's army has denied nearly all wrongdoing, insisting its campaign was justified to root out Rohingya insurgents who staged deadly raids on border posts in August 2017. But the UN team said the military's tactics had been "consistently and grossly disproportionate to actual security threats". The report says an estimated 10,000 people were killed in the crackdown and that was likely a conservative figure. Myanmar only recently emerged from almost a half century of military junta rule and Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically-elected government remains in a delicate power balance with the generals.