Staff Reporter :
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Friday urged the international community to press the government of Bangladesh to create conditions conducive for a free and fair election.
The global human rights defender came up with the call following reports of arrests of hundreds of leaders and members of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) which earlier said that a caretaker government is essential for free and fair polls, but the ruling Awami League rejected the demand saying it is ‘unconstitutional.’
Bangladesh will hold general elections on December 30 and the Election Commission (EC) vowed that it would ensure a free and fair election.
Major political parties have begun electioneering from Monday after the EC distributed electoral symbols to the candidates contesting in the upcoming polls.
“The United Nations, European Union, United States, India, China, and others should press the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to create conditions conducive to a free and fair vote and to prevent campaign of violence,” HRW said this in a press release.
Sheikh Hasina, also the president of ruling Awami League, on Wednesday urged all to work hard to achieve the victory in the upcoming general election while launching the party’s election campaign from Gopalganj.
The Awami League managed a landslide victory in the previous 2014 election, which was boycotted by the major opposition alliance led by BNP of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who is now in jail after court sentenced her to 17 years in two corruption cases.
The HRW also alleged that the security forces in Bangladesh have been arresting and intimidating opposition figures and threatening freedom of expression ahead of the election.
The global rights body in its research (from October to early December) found repeated instances of arbitrary security force arrest and detention of protesters and political opposition figures, and acts of violence and intimidation by members of the ruling party’s student and youth wings.
“The crackdown, and the broad and vaguely worded laws that facilitate it, are contributing to an environment of fear. Institutions including the judiciary and the national election commission do not appear to be fully prepared to independently and fairly resolve disputes around campaigns and elections, such as on registration, candidacies, and results,” according to HRW.
“The Awami League government has been systematically cracking down on independent and opposition voices to ensure that the ruling party faces no obstacles to total political control,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW, claiming, “Members and supporters of the main opposition parties have been arrested, killed, even disappeared, creating an atmosphere of fear and repression that is not consistent with credible elections.”
He said the Bangladesh authorities should end the crackdown on the political opposition and on free expression ahead of the national elections to ensure Bangladeshis their internationally protected right to choose their government.
