Writing on politics, elections, corruption, human rights etc .. with particular interest in Bangladesh. Most recently Netra News, Al Jazeera, Channel 4 News
What do today's large scale protests throughout Bangladesh, involving hundreds of thousands of people, many of which are calling very directly for Sheikh Hasina to resign, mean?
The protests are unlikely to stop. They are triggered by a quite understandable deep emotional
"Who came? Who has come? The police have come, the police have come. What are they doing? They are here to lick the dictator's feet." There are the slogans of the female students yesterday filimed at Thakurgaon in this remarkable video.
If, following the killing of over 200
This is Rajshai university today where students sought to hold a peaceful rally. However the
#Bangladesh
law enforcement authorities were having none of that. At one point, armed and plain clothes police tried to disrupt the protests, arrest five students and drag them to their
A day after euphoria-driven mayhem, Bangladeshi youth cleaned up around the national parliament, other major buildings and even helped manage traffic in the absence of police. Reflects the enormous confidence and hope in what they’ve just achieved.
This is some moment. The statue of Sheikh Mujib, the father of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the country's independence leader, is being destroyed. Unfortunately, his reputation (most support him, others not) has been significantly tarnished by association with her
The quota protest organisers called for mass protests today against the law enforcement killings and the ensuing government crackdown involving arbitrary arrests of thousands, as well resignation of key ministers and apology from the prime minister. And people have responded in
I did an interview on
@ndtv
and the understanding of the anchor and the other guests was just shocking. Even a former ambassador spoke about protests "spearheaded" by the Jamaat. It was just pure fantasy. It seemed they had taken the most extreme of the Awami League narratives
Witnessing the student revolution in Bangladesh has taken India by surprise. I reminded them many times that this day would come. The failure of India's Bangladesh policy proves that India's neighborhood policy is fundamentally flawed. Now, their media and politicians are
Absolutely shocking. This is nothing less than Bangladesh state murder. ... No doubt the Awami League government will say that the men who shot this poor man were BNP/Jamaat opposition activists dressed up in law enforcement uniform! And the ever-so-silent diplomats in Bangladesh
On Friday, July 19, 2024, near Rampura Police Station in Dhaka, residents of the Banasree area took to the streets to protest against the student killings. A clash ensued between the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), the police, and the general protesters.
At one point, unable to
Common slogans at protests today in Dhaka (translated from the Bengali):
- "Why my brother/sister is dead. Hasina must answer for this."
- "My brother/sister is lying in the grave. Why the killers are walking free outside? "
"1 2 3 4. Sheikh Hasina is a dictator"
"1234. Hasina,
The quota protest organisers called for mass protests today against the law enforcement killings and the ensuing government crackdown involving arbitrary arrests of thousands, as well resignation of key ministers and apology from the prime minister. And people have responded in
This is not just brutal, but brazen. The
#Bangladesh
government law enforcement took out this man as though he was an enemy combatant in a war situation and in full view of everyone around him and clearly with a total sense of impunity. I don’t know whether this man was a BNP
Army authorities have released the young lawter Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, also known as Armaan, after 8 years of secret detention. He was picked up by Awami League government authorities in August 2016 from his home, in front of his family and since then his whereabouts has been
Incredibly proud of the youth of
#Bangladesh
. They inspired people of different ages, backgrounds, ethnicities/religions to come together to rebuild a new Bangladesh after they collectivized to lead mass uprising to overthrow a dictator.
#ReformBangladesh
This is painful to watch. In the video is Nurul Haque Nur, the leader of a small political party in Bangladesh, the Gono Odhikar Parishad [People's Rights Forum]. He was involved in the 2018 student quota protests but not these recent ones. Here he is being brought to court after
BREAKING: Formal confirmation that Muhammad Yunus has agreed to be head of the interim government.
Lamiya Murshed, Executive Director of the Yunus Centre told me that she recently spoke to Yunus, who is currently in Paris, and that he told her:
"I have agreed to the request
It is surely time for
@UNPeacekeeping
to immediately stop Bangladesh from providing peacekeepers to the United Nations until it undertakes an independent investigation of the violence used by the police, military and other para-military groups which has allegedly resulted in
The problem the
#bangladesh
government has now, it seems, is that the only concessions that the government could give to end the protests are ones that would result, in effect, in the end of the government.
Since the internet connection was partially restored in Bangladesh, graphic images and videos have flooded the web. In one such video, members of the Bangladesh police are seen shooting at an injured person from point-blank range (at south of Dhaka, Shanir Akhra area). The
India has lost Bangladesh. Despite India's crucial military intervention at the end of 1971 that ensured first the defeat of the Pakistan military after a nine month war, and then the independence of the country, there has for some time been a significant anti-India feeling in
The student spray paints, "Murderer Hasina" on the wall. a large crowd cheers. This is yesterday at. the Chittagong court premises. There may well have been popular anger in some quarters towards Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, but this kind of popular expression seems new.
Here is an example of a prominent Awami League activist, the General Secretary of the Portuguese Awami League, who is now living in the UK, posting a message on Facebook which is threatening the Bangladeshi expatriate community if they criticise the Awami League government over
BREAKING: The United States government has revoked former
#Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visa to the United States, sources close to the State Department have confirmed. Sheikh Hasina left Bangladesh on Monday afternoon, and is currently in India deciding her next
What Next in
#Bangladesh
. My thoughts below, and in
@NetraNews
On Sunday, close to 100 people died in Bangladesh, mostly protestors, but the number also includes significant numbers of policemen and governing Awami League members. The government has announced an indefinite
In this leaked
#Bangladesh
government letter to Mr Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, dated 29 July, we find the fully formed narrative of the Bangladesh Government in seeking to minimise its role in the killings of students/ protestors/onlookers
The
#Bangladesh
governing party, the Awami League has a United Kingdom wing - the UK Awami League. This UK wing rather than being appalled by what the Awami League government/law enforcing authorities have done in Bangladesh over the last week - killing at least 200 students and
Oh my god. Does this mean that (apparently resigned)
#Bangladesh
prime minister Sheikh Hasina will come to live in the UK with her sister Rehana and her niece, Tulip Siddiq MP! ... Or will she take the easier option of staying in India.
This is chilling. Apparent
#Bangladesh
governing party students, with guns, shooting point-blank at protestors. Taken today in the capital city, Dhaka.
The Bangladesh government has now opened up the broadband internet in the capital Dhaka - after closing it as part of its crackdown on student protests. But unless you are connected to the internet by wires (i.e phones/laptops) there remains no internet (though in Gulshan, the
Here are the 86 people whom Human Rights Watch identified a few years back as disappeared in
#Bangladesh
, picked up by Awami League authorities, but whose wherabouts remain unknown. The new government authorities should now given each and every family an explanation now of what
The
#Bangladesh
Chief of Army Staff is holding a meeting tomorrow with all army officers from Dhaka (and possibly other nearby cantonments) concerning the current situation in the country. Sources, whose claims have not been verified, say that the army chief will inform those
There are reports that Awami League's politician's houses are being attacked and set on fire. This kind of retribution, however understandable, must stop.
An interesting question is how much Hasina knows about the extent of the protests going on in the country, and how much people have turned against her personally. Is she being informed about the protests, and seen images of them, or is all this being hidden from her?
Whatever
Having written a First Information Report that blamed
#Bangladesh
opposition parties for the death of the student Abu Sayeed in Rangpur, when videos showed extremely clearly that he was killed by police shooting (see tweet below), I did not think it was possible for the
Just please read this single
@dailystarnews
article about the
#Bangladesh
police "investigation" (it is not really an investigation) into the death of student Abu Sayed on July 16th if you want to understand exactly how
#Bangladesh
authorities impute criminal responsibility. It
In
#Bangladesh
in coming days there will be a transfer of populations. Key Awami Leaguers/beneficiaries will leave the country; on the other hand, dissidents/ dissenters/critics of the Awami League government, who at some point over the last 15 years had to leave Bangladesh, are
ALERT: It is being reported (though not independently confirmed) that at 3.30 pm
#Bangladesh
time, three student quota leaders/organisers were picked up by Detective Branch police officers from Gonoshastho hospital in Dhanmondi 6 in the capital city of Dhaka. They are Nahid
Popular movements that topple governments result in transformations not just at the societal level, but at the level of individual lives. And that includes my own. In 2017, having lived in Bangladesh for 13 years, and whilst working as a journalist, I was forced to leave the
Protests of
#Bangladesh
students/supporters/others are taking part in different parts of the capital city Dhaka, continue today. A significant procession taking place from the university BUET. This is brave in the current context of Bangladesh. Some images sent to me
Before the internet blackout in Bangladesh, a number of activists and journalists have said that
@Meta
removed videos/images showing police firing on students/ protestors. Was this accidental overreach or the result of Bangladesh government instructions? Don't know, but
This is really, really important work by
@RumorScanner
. Debunking the rumours about extreme communal, anti-Hindu violence in Bangladesh. Yes, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, there was a law and order vacuum in the country, which was filled with retributive, opportunistic
X (formerly Twitter) is flooded with Bangladesh related communal rumors.
In the last 4 days, Rumor Scanner team has identified at least 20 such rumors spread by Indian accounts.
In the first part of these communal rumors, a total of 10 fact-checks are provided below...
There is not a SINGLE statement from any government - whether it be UK, US, European Union, German, Canadian, Australian etc etc - that directly condemns the shooting of unarmed civilians by the
#Bangladesh
law enforcement authorities even though there was available, right from
The prime minister's decision to bring the Awami League onto the streets today, in the face of huge popular protests calling for the prime minister to resign, was reckless and clearly going to result in violence (indeed last night I had predicted such a possibility, with the
The very first thing, and I mean this must be the very very first thing that the new
#Bangladesh
interim government/army must do, is to release any secretly detained/disappeared person who remains alive. Many have been killed, but those alive should be immediately released. Some
The BBC Bengali service (
@bbcbangla
) are reporting that in the early houses of Saturday 20 July, Bangladesh law enforcing authorities (specifically the Detective Branch of the Police) picked up Nahid Islam one of the student coordinators of the quota reform movement from his
Braving it out ... and blaming the opposition.
Hasina's playbook. Will it work? The first indication of whether it will is to see what happens when the internet is restored - the country's ICT minister has said the government will likely put broadband (though not mobile)
I'm at a loss for words to describe this. Not once did Hasina mention the students who lost their lives during the recent protests during her latest presser with business leaders. The police killed at least 170 students (the actual number is likely higher), but she didn't express
Mohammed Arafat is Bangladesh government's state minister for information and broadcasting. It may be supercilious to call him its Disinformation Minister, but it is really what his title should be as almost everything this man says on behalf of the Awami League government about
In a last throw of the dice for the
#Bangladesh
government, amid the huge citizen protests calling for the resignation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the ruling Awami League has announced that the party will hold gatherings in all wards of Dhaka, districts and cities on
This is the Chaatra Dal, the student wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which was the main opposition party when Sheikh Hasina's Awami League was in power. During that period, the Chaatra Dal were hugely victimised - many were killed, disappeared or jailed.
BREAKING: Diplomatic sources have confirmed that in light of Bangladesh government's response to the student protests in the country, which resulted in the deaths of at least 200 people, the European Union has postponed the start of negotiations with the Bangladesh government
This is the first proper and serious statement from the international community (other than those from UN human rights bodies) commensurate with the seriousness of the violations of human rights committed by the Bangladesh government over recent days, given by Josep Borrell, High
This is another one of those appalling and shocking must-see
#Bangladesh
videos which show two men, presumably protestors standing in the street, being felled with a single shot.
At what point do diplomats and the wider international community say "we have seen enough."
Hasina launched a violent crackdown against Bangladeshi citizens by deploying snipers in buildings to target protesters. A video from July 26th in Bonosree, Dhaka, shows two protesters being shot by RAB snipers.
Bangladesh’s Muslim clerics are voluntarily guarding a Hindu temple in Cumilla after reports of attacks on Hindu communities and their places of worship prompted politicians and protest leaders to call for 'resisting' those committing violence.
Photo by Billah Mamun/Facebook
Protests of
#Bangladesh
students/supporters/others are taking part in different parts of the capital city Dhaka, continue today. A significant procession taking place from the university BUET. This is brave in the current context of Bangladesh. Some images sent to me
Unicef says that it has confirmed that 32 children, aged under 18, were killed "during July’s protests in
#Bangladesh
, with many more injured and detained." The statement does not attribute responsibility, but it should be assumed that all of these deaths - or at least the vast
#ProthomAlo
is reporting that a total of 93 people have died today in protests in
#Bangladesh
, of which 14 were police. A nightmare for which Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister, is ultimately responsible for actively pitting her party activists and police against the protestors.
The deaths of 13 police and 6 Awami Leaguers in
#Bangladesh
, is absolutely tragic, but was completely and entirely preventable had the Awami League government decided against calling for its party to gather today on the streets of the country. That governing party decision,
This is pure craziness. Names taken out of a hat. Are we back in a situation where anyone can file a criminal case in
#bangladesh
against anyone else, even without a scintilla of evidence, presumably due to some personal or political grievance? How are Shahriar Kabir, president
Who is head of Bangladesh's police, the particular force in Bangladesh that appears to be responsible for most of the shooting and killings of students and protestors in recent weeks? None other than Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun. In December 2021, as then Director General of the
From a journalist in Bangladesh. "Just imagine!! Not a single report by our TV stations on the students who were killed and who were shot rubber bullets on their eyes!! Not a single story!! It is all about burnt cars, vandalised and torched offices and police stations and
A very good point. The Bangladesh prime minister is only focusing on criminal damage caused by protestors responding to the police/law enforcement killing and injuries dozens of ordinary people, and is not interested at all in the people killed by her police force. Disgraceful.
Human lives vs. metro rail station? What is more valuable? Hasina had the time to visit the vandalized train station, but she did not visit a single dead body of the students whom the security forces shot dead under her instruction. This speaks volumes about her.
The minister falling on his sword to save the prime minister. .. No way this will work. Are we are supposed to believe that the prime minister did not know anything about the decision to close the internet?!
For some Bangladeshis the fall of the Awami League is the end of fear. For others, however, it may well be the beginning of fear.
It is difficult for people not conversant with Bangladesh to understand how for Bangladeshis (living both inside and outside the country) who wanted
“A senior Labour minister Tulip Siddiq MP was facing urgent questions last night after it emerged she is living in a £2 million house owned by a close political ally of her aunt, who was Bangladesh's authoritarian former prime minister.”
#Bangladesh
update from journalist on ground in Dhaka at 6am (Uk time) 11am (Bangladesh time).
1. Thousands of heavily armed troops and police men were deployed in Dhaka and its entry points as the students urged people to march to the capital to force Hasina to resign. The
The United Nations criticises Bangladesh authorities for use by army of UN equipment as part of its control of student protests. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday at press briefing that: "Our colleagues on the ground in Bangladesh have seen reports, disturbing
A key
#bangladesh
civil society member speaks. “I’m Badiul Alam Majumdar, the Secretary of SHUJAN (Citizens for Good Governance). Our stance on today's dire situation is that the incumbent government, Awami League, has repeatedly stolen the people's rights in the last three
As I write, Bangladesh newspapers are reporting about 205 people confirmed dead (Prothom Alo 204: New Age 206) as a result of the student protests. In my writing in recent days on these protests and the law enforcement's deadly response, I have tended to attribute all these
I dont know what will be the implications of this
#Bangladesh
student leader's declaration, but from a human rights perspective the bits that jumped out for me were:
- his claim that "fellow coordinators" of the student protest were kept "hostage in the Detective Branch office"
Today, the 25 July, from around 9.30 am large numbers of
#Bangladesh
army and police came to the house of Sanjida Islam, the convenor of the organiser Mayer Dak [Mother's Call], which campaigns around enforced disappearances. In December 2013, her brother, an opposition activist,
The irony. The irony. … Here is the Uk Awami League, holding right now in London a peaceful rally outside the House of Commons in support of the
#Bangladesh
government, …. when back in Bangladesh the Awami league government law enforcement authorities have (a) literally just a
The
#Bangladesh
government has set up a three person judicial committee to investigate the killings and resulting violence in recent weeks. The prime minister has sought United Nations (UN) assistance for this investigation. But a senior UN official has just told me: "The UN
Government Minister, Tulip Siddiq MP under investigation!
"A Treasury minister is being investigated by Parliament's standards watchdog over a failure to register rental income on a London property. Tulip Siddiq, Economic Secretary ... is the first MP of the new Parliament to
From the
@guardian
on
#Bangladesh
: "This has become a mass movement against a dictator. The prime minister has been ruling for 15 years and has spent so much time strengthening her grip over state mechanisms that she thinks she has become invincible. She has become a monster.”
Free and fair elections in Bangladesh sometimes feel like an arcane issue, but look at this video. This shows a polling agent of a candidate for the governing Awami League party, who was contesting a recent parliamentary by-election earlier this month in a constituency in
There are a number of points to note about the
@MailOnline
story about Tulip Siddiq MP.
- the £2.1 million house in which Tulip now lives was purchased in July 2022 by the UK Awami League leader Abdul Karim, at the same time that Tulip moved in. This does create an appearance
“A senior Labour minister Tulip Siddiq MP was facing urgent questions last night after it emerged she is living in a £2 million house owned by a close political ally of her aunt, who was Bangladesh's authoritarian former prime minister.”
“The mass arrest and arbitrary detention of student protesters [in Bangladesh] is a witch hunt by the authorities to silence anyone who dares to challenge the government and is a tool to further perpetuate a climate of fear.” Amnesty International Regional Director
The Bangladesh Awami League government now appears desperate to remove all possible sources of protest against the government, even if they simply involve a dozen men holding a prayer meeting on the curb-side
Video shared by an opposition party in Bangladesh is said to show police detaining an imam as he led funeral prayers for students killed during demonstrations over government job quotas.
This is just desperate. Absurd. Make believe. Disinformation. Call it what you want. … Who does the Awami League government in
#Bangladesh
actually think will believe this? Itself and its cadres only, surely. What this false narrative does do, though, is allow the government to
Hi
@PinakiTweetsBD
. I don’t know why are making this point right now. Even if widely exaggerated by the Indian
media, there have as you know been communal attacks against the Hindu community in some parts of Bangladesh following the removal of Hasina in the vacuum of law
A protest is taking place at Shahbagh with Hindus holding up a banner that features the picture of a young girl. The banner, written in Bengali, reads, "Being born a minority in Bangladesh is my lifelong sin." The girl in the picture is named Riya, a Hindu child who was killed
This is the consequence of years of impunity. Bangladesh law enforcers do now even feel a need to hide their crimes, as the government turns a blind eye.
Yesterday, I tweeted a video showing members of the Bangladesh police callously tossing the injured body of Shykh Yamin, a student at the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). They displayed no respect for human life, and left Yamin to die on the street.
Today, I
This is what the Bangladesh government and its supporters have said over the last 15 years: "Our elections are free and fair". A lie. "We have freedom of speech in Bangladesh". A lie. "We do not secretly detain and disappear people" A lie. "Our courts are independent." A lie.
The deaths of 13 police and 6 Awami Leaguers in
#Bangladesh
, is absolutely tragic, but was completely and entirely preventable had the Awami League government decided against calling for its party to gather today on the streets of the country. That governing party decision,
"The people of
#Bangladesh
pay taxes. And the police shot people, including students, with guns and bullets bought with taxpayers' money. .... I believe that to the world, Bangladesh's image wasn't tarnished, but the government's was. Students must be released from police custody
"When Sheikh Hasina returned to power in 2008, Bangladesh's total debt was just $33.66 billion. When she fled the country amid an unprecedented student-led uprising on August 5, she left behind a burden of $156 billion in local and foreign loans for the country to carry."
Tough statement on Bangladesh from UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights. "UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today called on the Bangladesh Government urgently to disclose full details about last week’s crackdown on protests amid growing accounts of horrific violence, and to
The
#Bangladesh
government is now trying to round up opposition leaders - as they seek to blame them for the protests and resulting violence. I have just heard that at around 9.30 pm on July 20th (second day of the army-enforced curfew), 15-20 plain clothes policemen wearing
These rap lyrics have resulted in Bangladesh authorities arresting the musician Hannan Hossain Shimul: "Raise your voice, Bangladesh, raise your voice// So much blood on the streets, raise your voice//Raise your voice, Bangladesh, raise your voice//Who fired the shots on the
The
#Bangladesh
authorities say that they have arrested Salman Rahman, the Awami League MP and private industry and investment adviser to the Bangladesh Prime Minister (along with the law minister, Anisul Huq). I had earlier mistakenly reported that he had flown out of the
The dumping of unidentified bodies at the Rayabazaar graveyard and burying them in unmarked graves may or may not be a deliberate attempt by
#Bangladesh
government authorities to hide the fact that these deaths were caused by law enforcement authorities - and the only way we will
On July 25th, I twitted regarding the burial of 36 unidentified bodies at the Rayerbazar Intellectuals Cemetery. These bodies were buried from the late night of July 18th to the afternoon of July 23rd.
The grave diggers have informed me that an additional 29 unidentified bodies
Bangladesh update: Just been informed by credible journalist that 57 protestors/bystanders were killed today, apparently all by law enforcement authorities - bringing total number of deaths since Monday to over 100. Figures based on police and hospital reports
It is not possible to exaggerate the level of karmic justice that is represented by the appointment of Muhammad Yunus to the position of head of
#Bangladesh
's interim government.
Other than members of the political opposition, for over a decade, Yunus was by far the man most
BREAKING: Formal confirmation that Muhammad Yunus has agreed to be head of the interim government.
Lamiya Murshed, Executive Director of the Yunus Centre told me that she recently spoke to Yunus, who is currently in Paris, and that he told her:
"I have agreed to the request
Always risky to predict what will happen in Bangladesh, but I am increasingly of the view that there is now no way back for prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League to govern normally in the country. Why do I say this?
(a) At least 155 people have been confirmed killed
The decision on Friday by the Awami League government to call in the army to deal with the escalating law and order problem, following the killing of over 130 people at the hands of law enforcing officers, brings into focus what role the military may play in Bangladesh in coming
Interesting initiative in
#Bangladesh
. This new website, which translates as "Why Arrested" seeks to track all recent "arbitrary" detentions relating to the student protests (and perhaps beyond).
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International's UK CEO at a meeting in parliament yesterday evening: "There is overwhelming evidence that the protestors in
#Bangladesh
were exercising a human right to protest. There is overwhelming evidence that the use of lethal and sometimes less
Interesting. No longer a hero! The students here are seen throwing bricks at the image of former
#Bangladesh
cricket captain Mashrafee Bin Mortaza, once very much a national icon, but now a member of parliament of the governing Awami League party.
In a last throw of the dice for the
#Bangladesh
government, amid the huge citizen protests calling for the resignation of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina, the ruling Awami League has announced that the party will hold gatherings in all wards of Dhaka, districts and cities on