‘Show no mercy to the propagandist – whether they are abroad or at home’, demand Student League leaders

 Propaganda and misinformation about the government and its programme in order to besmirch its image and reputation abroad will not be tolerated any further, Awami League affiliate Student League leaders warned.

In Sylhet, recently reports have emerged that a number of families of individuals who are either independent writers, columnists without any particular political persuasion or from the political parties in opposition to Awami League have suffered harassment, taunting, intimidation and other forms of discrimination. Because most of these writers or columnists are abroad, the families are having to endure the wrath of the political might of the ruling party.

Md Abu Mustofa, who is presently in London, UK, with his wife and children, in a conversation with this reported expressed his frustration with the current culture of political aggression and climate of political persecution of anyone who expresses any views that appear to criticise the government. He added that because of his write-ups in a number of online news and media outlets, his family in Bangladesh have been suffering abuse and intimidation. His brother’s employment is at stake whilst his family are scared of going out of their home. Asked about the role of the law enforcement agencies, Mr. Mustofa made it clear that no-one trusts the law enforcements to take any action government supporting political activists who terrorise others in the name of political cleansing. In fact, he asserts, he finds the agencies complicit in these actions by the various offshoots of Awami League. Lamenting, he added it is not as if things would change dramatically if any other political power came to power. Our mother land is unfortunate, he concluded and maintained his denial as to writing things to incite people and creating chaos. He said it was his solemn duty to try to put right things that the government was not doing correctly. But, he fears he might not write any further if harassment of his family continued and he is apprehensive of his own return to Bangladesh.

This reporter has spoken to many others who are on the same boat as Mr. Mustofa. Most wished to remain anonymous and more or less agreed with the views of Mr. Mustofa above. There appeared to be a consensus that if a “democratically elected” considers anyone an enemy of the state as soon as there is the slightest whiff of criticism against the government, then that is not a democracy, that is fascism. The continued onslaught on those who wish to express different views and offer constructive criticisms will end badly for Bangladesh, they claimed. Expressing the slightest dissent can now be prosecuted under the cloak of persecutory legislation.

Whilst these concerns of the expats have been put to a number of League-affiliated leaders, they dismissed these claims as baseless and as an affront to the good work this government has been doing for the people of Bangladesh. They also dismissed any concern as to the suffocation of freedom of expression by citing  the economic growth the country has performed under this government and by labelling these claims as propaganda by those who wish to bring BNP into power. They point to the fact that the recent legislation Digital Security Act 2018 is not a power-grab, but a necessity triggered by the demand of the general public who felt unsafe in an environment where their cherished feelings are abused and violated.

However, it remains the case that there is growing unrest in the international community and the expatriates who think the country has been in the wrong direction since the 2014 election. How the government counters these issues will dictate the next election, it seems.