Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration mobilises tens of hundreds of its supporters in Dhaka to protest worth rise and demand the PM’s resignation.
Dhaka, Bangladesh – Rafiqul Islam joined tens of hundreds of opposition supporters within the capital Dhaka after travelling practically 200km (124 miles) from the southern coastal district of Noakhali. However he needed to faux his id to evade detention forward of the anti-government rally on Saturday.
The police within the South Asian nation had arrested a whole lot of supporters from the principle opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Celebration (BNP), which had referred to as for the rally to protest in opposition to worth rises and demand the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“I had deleted my messenger and logged right into a second Fb account in my cellphone. We have been advised by the central command of our celebration to take action to achieve Dhaka with out getting arrested or harassed,” Islam, a grassroots-level activist of BNP, advised Al Jazeera,
“It apparently labored,” Islam mentioned as he was standing amid a sea of individuals at Golapbagh area in central Dhaka on Saturday morning. It was BNP’s final of a sequence of rallies organised throughout the nation prior to now weeks to demand new elections underneath a impartial caretaker authorities.
From the Dhaka rally, BNP’s prime management renewed that decision together with the calls for for withdrawals of instances in opposition to its celebration chief Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman — each of whom have been charged and convicted in what the celebration says are “politically motivated instances”.
All seven BNP legislators introduced their resignations from the present parliament in protest in opposition to what they mentioned was the “unlawful” authorities led by the ruling Awami League (AL) celebration.
Hasina, in energy since 2009, is accused of getting two nationwide elections stained by opposition boycotts and electoral malpractices underneath her watch. Her authorities’s heavy-handed approaches to suppress political opposition and dissenters have additionally attracted extreme criticism from human rights activists and impartial observers.
The BNP claims greater than 180,000 authorized instances have been filed in opposition to 4 million of its members within the final decade. On the similar time, a minimum of 600 celebration members have been kidnapped, and about 3,000 have been victims of extrajudicial killings by the hands of authorities, the celebration says.
The opposition leaders additionally accused the federal government of cracking down on its supporters to impede mass turnouts of their current rallies.
No less than 2,000 celebration activists and leaders have been arrested simply days earlier than the Dhaka rally, the BNP mentioned. Two of its prime leaders, together with the celebration’s de facto chief and normal secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, have been additionally arrested and despatched to jail on Friday.
The police mentioned 500 individuals have been arrested within the wake of opposition-led protests on Wednesday that turned lethal. Safety forces within the capital Dhaka additionally fired rubber bullets and tear gasoline right into a crowd of hundreds of BNP supporters making ready for the December 10 rally.
‘Struggle for survival’
The federal government on Saturday deployed greater than 30,000 legislation enforcement personnel within the capital whereas ruling celebration leaders and AL activists took to the streets and totally different entry factors in Dhaka, with the obvious purpose of stopping the motion of BNP supporters, Al Jazeera has realized.
Extra Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Hafiz Akter advised Al Jazeera that police had strengthened surveillance to thwart potential chaos within the metropolis.
“Our curiosity is to guard widespread individuals from any hurt,” he mentioned. Requested in regards to the presence of AL activists alongside the police, Akter mentioned: “Any political celebration can have individuals on the road so long as it doesn’t trigger a public nuisance.”
These actions, nonetheless, didn't deter tens of hundreds like Islam from reaching Dhaka to protest in opposition to what they name “an autocratic and repressive regime” that has been in energy “with out individuals’s mandate”.
In addition to deleting his Messenger account and altering his Fb profile, Islam mentioned he was capable of go the police checkpoints and enter Dhaka by presenting himself as an on a regular basis particular person going about their enterprise.
Monsur Jilani got here to Saturday’s rally from the southeastern district of Cumilla. A BNP district-level chief, Jilani has served practically seven months in jail in two stints prior to now three years.
“My solely fault was that I supported the BNP. The native police raided my home and introduced false fees in opposition to me. Many BNP different activists in my space have been charged in the same method,” Jilani advised Al Jazeera, “It’s our struggle for survival now. This fascist Hasina regime has to go.”
Poet and author Kazi Abdullah Yusuf joined the protest, annoyed by the tradition of worry underneath the Hasina authorities. Greater than 2,000 individuals have been jailed within the final two years underneath the “Digital Safety Act”, which the United Nations has mentioned “imposes harsh punishments for a variety of acts that aren't clearly outlined”.
“I voted for Hasina in 2009 however she has became an autocratic ruler. We don’t have freedom of expression anymore and it’s stifling,” Yusuf mentioned.
He added that the skyrocketing costs of important gadgets, gasoline worth hikes and energy cuts compelled him to protest in opposition to the federal government.
“The Awami League authorities has lengthy been saying that it has ushered us into a brand new period of improvement. The reality is, I'm discovering it very troublesome to make ends meet now,” he mentioned.
Till not too long ago, Bangladesh’s thriving export sector — greater than 80 p.c of which relies on ready-made garment merchandise — helped cushion the nation’s financial system from international volatility.
Excessive vitality costs triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict have considerably decreased its export orders from Western nations whereas on the similar time massively devaluing the native foreign money in opposition to the US greenback. The nation’s foreign exchange reserves have dropped to an alarming $26.3bn — adequate for little greater than three months’ price of imports — from $45.5bn only a 12 months earlier.
To ease the additional pressure on the dwindling foreign exchange reserves, the Hasina authorities in August raised gasoline costs by 40-50 p.c throughout the board. The hikes have had a domino impact on different necessities, together with edible oils, rice, eggs and greens, all of which now value 20-30 p.c extra. Public bus fares — utilized by hundreds of thousands — have additionally risen by as a lot as 22 p.c.
This has angered Bangladeshis and lots of of them have taken to social media or the streets to specific their frustration.
The BNP, which has been sidelined by Hasina for years, appears to have efficiently managed to channel individuals’s anger in opposition to hovering costs.
Individuals’s mounting discontent
Ali Riaz, a distinguished professor of politics and authorities at Illinois State College within the US, mentioned the BNP had sensed a possibility to make a political comeback after years of repression, as the event narrative pedalled by the Hasina authorities appears to be on the wane.
“It [development narrative] was hole from the start and numbers by no means added up actually,” Riaz mentioned.
He added that the large turnouts in all BNP rallies thus replicate not solely assist for the celebration but additionally “a severe discontent amongst widespread residents in regards to the state of financial system and governance”.
Previously few months, information about large-scale corruption within the nation’s banks and huge capital flights by individuals related to the ruling celebration have surfaced within the media.
“The cronyism created strata of beneficiaries whereas a big phase of society continues to undergo ad infinitum,” mentioned Riaz.
Apart from, a big phase of Bangladeshis appears to be pushed to the brink, he mentioned. “They wish to have an surroundings the place they will categorical their views, freely take part in demonstrations, forged their votes, however most significantly have a authorities which is accountable to them and gives financial alternatives to outlive,” he mentioned.
Australia-based Bangladeshi economist Jyoti Rahman accused the federal government of mishandling the financial system.
“Policymakers have made issues worse with parallel change charges, lack of transparency round reserves information, and capped rates of interest,” he mentioned.
He fears that with the Taka, the Bangladeshi foreign money, anticipated to depreciate additional in opposition to the US greenback, remittances from abroad — the second greatest supply of overseas foreign money — are more likely to dry up, accelerating a monetary disaster.
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