The Honorable Antony Blinken

U.S. Secretary of State

U.S. Department of State

Office of the Secretary

2201 C St. NW

Washington, D.C. 20520

April 5, 2023

To Save Bangladesh, a Credible Election Under a Neutral Caretaker Administration is the Only Way

Dear Honorable Secretary Blinken,

In keeping with President Joe Biden’s policy directive with foreign countries, the United States has consistently emphasized democracy, human rights, freedom and election integrity in its engagements with Bangladesh. The US sanctions of December 2021 on the notorious Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and its top officials have made limited impact, as the regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina continued to use RAB to persecute political opponents and its critics. The glaring example of its defiance to the sanctions is the appointment of Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, a sanctioned former RAB official, as the Inspector General of the fearsome Bangladesh Police soon afterwards. As the national election is due in a few months, RAB’s political operations have been intensified.

Recently, the German Deutsche Welle (DW) and the Sweden-based Netra News exposed the modus operandi of RAB in their in-depth investigations that included video footage, in the production of “Death Squad: Inside Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion.” It involved the depositions of victims and two former RAB officials who volunteered to speak the truth on conditions of anonymity. “If RAB found out he had talked to the media, ” says one of the whistleblowers, “he would end up dead.”

The whistleblowers confirmed that the elite force of 13,000 was used as a political tool by the Hasina regime. The Nazi Gestapo-style tales are harrowing. “Bangladesh’s elite counterterrorism force is committing extrajudicial killings,” says the report. Top ranking “officials (meaning the Prime Minister) are approving the executions.” The following link will lead to the DW-Netra News story, which also depicts how criminal evidence like drugs, drinks, and currencies are suitably planted to implicate the victims.

https://www.dw.com/en/death-squad-inside-bangladeshs-rapid-action-battalion/a-65209010

(In February of 2021, Qatar based Al-Jazeera released “All the Prime Minister’s Men,” exposing the vivid connections of Prime Minister Hasina and the then Army Chief General Aziz Ahmed with top level criminal gangs operating within and outside the country).

RAB was created as an elite force in 2004 with the good intentions of controlling law and order and drug trafficking. It received training, funding and intelligence from the US, the UK and Mossad (discreetly) and other donor partners. After becoming Prime Minister in 2009, through a questionable election process, Sheikh Hasina utilized this force as a political tool against the opposition, mostly the activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as the critics of her wrongdoings. Many of RAB’s victims are never seen again. Death in its custody is a common feature. The US stopped its assistance to RAB in 2018. The force’s serious violations of human rights prompted the US sanctions in December 2021.

As the US has been very vocal about human rights violations, election integrity, freedom to opposition political activities in Bangladesh, and even showing sympathy to the family members of the disappeared victims, Ambassador Peter Haas has come under attack from the regime and its agents on more than one occasion.

Bloomberg, in a recently published article, forecasted a fourth 5-year term for Sheikh Hasina crediting her for her the country’s economic management.(Bloomberg lauds PM for reforms to maintain economic stability | Online Version (bd-pratidin.com). To the contrary, the ground scenario is completely opposite. High level corruption and faulty policy priorities left the banks dry and the government’s reserve alarmingly depleted. People are groaning under the skyrocketing prices of daily essentials, even during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. At the same time, the people are unable to talk for fear of persecution under the draconian Digital Security Act. If Sheikh Hasina continues in authority, even a semblance of democracy, human rights, freedom, good governance, and fair elections will disappear from Bangladesh for years to come. It is unfortunate that a media of Bloomberg’s stature chose to entertain such a grossly false and misrepresentative piece.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her officials routinely provide scripted lines of fairness in the next election to visiting senior US officials, as well as to Ambassador Haas. These assurances mean nothing if the regime’s past performances are to be scrutinized. The Hasina administration is absolutely incapable of holding free, fair, and credible elections.

As such, Mr. Secretary, the only way for Bangladesh to return to the path of democracy, human rights and good governance is an urgent election under a neutral, non-partisan caretaker administration at the soonest. Let the people decide, under a free choice, who they want as their next leadership.

Sincerely,

The Coalition for Human Rights & Democracy in Bangladesh (CHRD Bangladesh)