Abdul Mannan :

On last 9-10 December US President Joe Biden hosted a virtual ‘Democracy Conference’ in Washington DC. This is supposed to be the first of two such summits to emphasize the importance of democracy and preservation of Human Rights for a better world. The conference hosted leaders from civil society, leaders from government and people from private sectors.

The conference was expected to set forth an affirmative agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action. These are the reasons why such a conference was thought of, said the White House. When the people of the world are struggling to survive a devastating pandemic and keep on their lives going, such a conference may not have been a bad idea. At least it gave some people food for thought.

At the end of the conferences or even before,  questions were raised about the real intention of the conference and that too being hosted in US whose human rights record is often questioned and meddling in other country’s affairs are too common to be ignored. People around the world admire the United States which produced people like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Roosevelt or even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Even before the conference began, controversy arose about who got invited and who did not.  According to the influential US ‘Foreign Policy’ Magazine’s columnist Stephen M Walt, who is also a Professor of Harvard University, ‘the list of participants is arbitrary and inconsistent’. It also wrote ‘the United States is not in the best position to lead this effort right now. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) of UK  downgraded the United  States to the category of “flawed democracy” before former US President Donald Trump was elected and nothing has happened to reverse that status. On the contrary: One of the United States’ two major political parties (Republicans) still refuses to accept that the 2020 presidential election was legitimate and is working overtime to erode democratic norms and rig future elections in its favour.” The hosts of `Democracy Conference’ forgot the   episode that just immediately after the last presidential election hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Hill claiming that the election was rigged. The incident was unprecedented. Imagine that happening in Bangladesh!

Many have questioned the list of invitees and who were left out. Freedom House, a US Think Tank was surprised the inclusion of Democratic Republic of Congo, the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro or the Philippine President Rodrigo Dutertre. ‘Foreign Policy’ also writes ‘if defending democracy and human rights is the guiding star of US foreign policy, then it should stop supporting authoritarian rulers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and distance itself from states veering in political rights to millions of people.’ The invitees surprisingly included Pakistan, the country that has been accused of killing three million people in Bangladesh in 1971 and since 1947 the country has relentlessly waged war against the people of Baluchistan, a province of Pakistan.   Just days after the conference, the Pentagon said that ‘no US troops or officials would face disciplinary action for a drone (now all drone attacks) in Kabul on 29 August that killed seven children and three adults.’ According to US media on an average more than one thousand people, mostly blacks and unarmed people including children playing with toy guns are killed in US by police every  year. The country’s democracy has got to such an extent that in many US states people can come out on the street in thousands and express that they will not take the Covid-19 vaccine. ‘It is my body and it is my decision’ they cried.  In recent times the country of Lincoln and Dr. King had to face ‘Black Life Matters’ movement.  Let us not forget the George Floyd case where Floyd, a black American was strangled to death by US police in public.

Amongst the countries that have been left out of the invitees list includes not only Bangladesh but also countries like Singapore and Sri Lanka. Though the conference was named as ‘Democracy Summit’, many analyst think that it was intended to send a message to the nations who refused to join or support the US sponsored “The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) or QUAD, an informal strategic forum comprising India, Japan, Australia and United States of America”, presumably formed to challenge the growing influence of China in Asia, Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean region. Bangladesh has always maintained a neutral position and immediately after its independence the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced his foreign policy would be ‘friendship towards to all and malice towards none.’ Though US administration in 1971 and China did not support the independence of Bangladesh subsequently over last fifty years both the countries have come closer to Bangladesh and overwhelmingly helped the development efforts of Bangladesh. Currently thousands of Bangladeshi students study in US. The trade relations between the two countries have been quite robust.

However in Joe Biden’s conference  the Bangladesh’s iconic national law enforcement agency, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) was singled out and it imposed sanctions on it along with  its seven current and former top officials on  ‘human rights’ violation grounds. RAB is also accused of extrajudicial killing which was denied by Bangladesh.  Such  decisions has not only triggered  a  widespread controversy in Bangladesh but also gave an opportunity to BNP, the party formed by General Zia, an accused in the  killing of Sheikh Mujib, the founding father of Bangladesh along with his seventeen family members to make lots of noise on the street.

Zia was also the first military ruler of Bangladesh and from documented evidences it is now known that Zia’s role in overt conspiracy to assassinate Mujib was also fuelled by the then US administration. BNP who relentlessly makes lots of noise regarding the current sanction forgetting that RAB was formed in 2003 during the four party rule headed by Begum Zia, and immediately after its formation it was used for  extrajudicial killing and killing and abduction of workers and leaders of opposition political parties, especially those belonging or supporting Awami League. The operation was named ‘Operation Clean Heart.’ In a matter of few months RAB was used to not only to kill 52 people but the then government also audaciously passed an indemnity bill in the National parliament indemnifying the RAB from being tried in any court of law for these killings. The Act was subsequently annulled by the Higher Court. When an unconfirmed news was making the social media rounds that the former Bangladesh Army Chief General (Retd) Aziz’s US visa has been revoked the BNP leaders created an upbeat frenzy about it forgetting that their acting Chairperson, the absconding Tarique Rahman who also happens to be the eldest son of Begum Zia has been prohibited entry in US since 2005. Granting a visa or revoking it is a prerogative of the host country and it is not unusual to come to such decisions on flawed grounds or assumptions.

Coming back to RAB issue it must be remembered that it was due to their pre-emptive and timely measures that Bangladesh today is much safer than it was two decades back.  Most countries have such specialised law enforcing agencies with rules of business and standard operating procedures. RAB is no exception. Had it not for the role of RAB Bangladesh by this time would have been a safe haven for drug traffickers, gun runners, militants and human traffickers. Surely Biden administration does not want that to happen in Bangladesh or anywhere else. It must also be remembered that RAB was initially trained by US trainers. In the line of duty people may get killed or other crimes committed by RAB. However it must also be remembered that such crimes seldom go unpunished. The murder of seven people in Narayanganj by RAB in 2017 is a case to be noted. For this crime 15 people were sentenced to death while 11 have been sentenced to life imprisonment by the High Court most of whom were RAB personnel. One of those who were sentenced to death happens to be the son-in-law of a former minister of the present government. The murder of Major (Retd) Sinha in Teknaf is under trial in a trial court and amongst those accused includes an Officer-in-charge of the local police station. According to official sources two thousand RAB personnel were punished for stepping beyond their rules of business in last ten years. No crimes should go unpunished in any country.

It is a fact that Human Rights are an alienable right of every human being and has also been acknowledged by the United Nations. But how often one sees countries like US speaking out against it in general terms? When the question of accusations are addressed the reaction always seems be selective. Currently the word human rights seems alien to countries like Myanmar or Israel but US’s response to the atrocities and human rights violations committed in these countries seems non-existent or at best is lukewarm. Every time the issue of forceful displacement of Myanmar civilians (the Rohingyas) came for discussion in UN Security Council, US along with other super powers stood against such discussions and prevented any sort of resolution.

On last Wednesday the US Secretary of State has spoken to  Bangladesh’s Foreign  Minister and during their discussion Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister informed the US Foreign Minister about the displeasure of  the common people as  well as that of the government regarding the decision taken in the ‘Democracy Conferring’ by US vis-à-vis RAB and its past and present officials. The US Foreign Minister as well as the US Ambassador in Bangladesh promised that they will look into the matter more objectively. However one thing must be said that such decisions are often taken by foreign countries or agencies (like the Padma Bridge issue) on flawed information fed to them by some local agencies or people. In this case even two White House insiders who happen to be relatives of two BNP leaders have been identified and have been accused of feeding most of the flawed information that accelerated in taking the decision against the RAB. However the accusation is to be confirmed. On top of everything there are now lobbyists in Washington who have been employed by certain political organizations in Bangladesh just to feed false and half-truth information to the US and other international bodies and agencies to embarrass the present government. It is alleged that they are paid from sources in London.

Bangladesh today is an important country from geo-strategic point of view. It does not serve any purpose for US to alienate Bangladesh considering the fact that both countries are in good terms for a long period and both countries enjoy a good economic and trade relationship as mentioned earlier. Let all misunderstandings be erased through good and progressive diplomacy and understanding of facts and not based on concocted or half-truth information.
The writer is an analyst and commentator.