Many media outlets have reported that the government of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is close to being overthrown. Overall It even culminated in a student-led uprising. What is not mentioned is that the militaryIron Lady” to India, or will the military return as the final arbiter in Bangladesh’s national politics?
In reality, the change of power in the world’s eighth most populous country amounts to a military coup, carried out quietly behind a civilian facade.
By establishing an interim civilian government composed only of “advisors,” the coup plotters not only forestalled U.S.-led sanctions but also helped to foster a romanticized image of the West. Media Narrative The beginning of a student-led “revolution” in the country.
The appointment of Muhammad Yunus as “chief adviser,” or head of the transitional government, only served to cover up the military government. Yunus, 84, a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton,2006 Nobel Peace Prizeas a pioneer of microcredit, which provides small loans to rural families to help alleviate poverty;
The duration and scope of the interim government’s powers are yet to be determined, and its advisers are primarily operating under the direction of military leaders, particularly the army commander. General Waqer Uz ZamanThe advisers include two of the student protest leaders, a hardline Islamist leader and two retired generals, one of whom is tasked with restoring law and order to the country.
To be clear, violent student-led and Islamist-backed protests against Hasina’s 15 years of secular but increasingly undemocratic rule helped oust her from power, but the defining factor that ended her rule was the loss of support from the country’s powerful military, which, as protesters rampaged through the streets of the capital, Dhaka, rejection Enforcing a government-ordered lockdown would have endangered Prime Minister Hasina’s own safety, allowing the military to convince her to flee the country.
As soon as the 76-year-old Prime Minister Hasina departed for India on a military transport plane, mobs erupted. Plundered They broke into the prime minister’s vast official residence and looted everything they could, from paintings and furniture to the fish in the pond.
The decision to exile Hasina was not an impulsive military decision, but rather appears to have been the core of a well-thought-out plan to seize indirect control of the country: the international costs of killing a sitting prime minister in a coup or imprisoning her without due process were deemed too high, making forced ouster the better option for the military brass.
Bangladesh’s decades-long cycle of political violence, after all, began with the pre-dawn assassination of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s charismatic founding leader, in a military coup in 1975. Murdered Hasina’s wife, three sons and their wives were shot dead in cold blood by army officers while they were sleeping in Rahman’s home. Hasina, who was 28 at the time, survived as she was overseas.
What followed was a long period of political turmoil that prevented democracy from consolidating, with coups and counter-coups resulting in prolonged military rule in many countries around the world. The most densely populated large country.
Bangladesh has no regional adversaries but maintains a relatively large military of over 200,000. Since external defense is not its primary mission, the military has long pursued political maneuverings and, when it has not ruled directly, has sought to exert political power through compliant civilian-led governments.
Hasina maintains the military Islamic extremism Hasina sought to oust her by exploiting the student-led uprising and allowing mob violence beyond the control of police and paramilitary forces, but she took solace in appointing General Zaman as army commander just weeks before her downfall and that he was married to her cousin.
But Hasina’s downfall precipitated the near-total collapse of the state, with looting, vandalism, revenge killings, and Coordinated attacks Prime Minister Hasina launched an attack against the country’s long-persecuted Hindu minority, but her resignation marked mission accomplished and army chiefs finally ordered troops into action to quell the situation, including authorising them to open fire on violent protesters.
The focus is Profit and powerThe military has a long history of human rights abuses and ties to Islamic extremism, as does Pakistan’s military, which Bangladesh separated from in 1971. 3 million Bengali killed in Pakistan GenocideBangladeshi troops are widespread Commercial InterestThese range from real estate, hotels, banking, manufacturing and shipbuilding.
Following this month’s quiet coup, democratisation will not only become more difficult, but civilian checks on an already weak military also risk disappearing.
However, the Biden administration replaced the Hasina administration with a pro-U.S. interim government, Publicly Targeted There is little reason for Washington to enforce any democratic rollback. Coup-related aid restrictions About Bangladesh.
Since 2009, there have been more than 20 coups around the world, but in the United States Could not formally denounce About half of military coups are carried out because they are believed to be favorable to U.S. interests, and Washington typically denounces them as actions that legally require the withdrawal of U.S. foreign aid. Harmful American power and influence in the region.
The United States has long maintained close ties with Bangladesh’s military and military-backed governments, and has been hesitant to accept the current regime change. Positive developmentsbut, The White House and State Department He denied allegations that the United States was involved in Hasina’s ouster.
But with the purges and crackdown in full swing despite the country being in turmoil, Bangladesh faces the daunting task of restoring the rule of law and reviving an economy battered by widespread mob violence and destruction.
Brahma Chellaney is the author of nine books, including an award-winning book. “Water: Asia’s New Battleground”
