Ukraine says Russian missile attack kills 11 in eastern town
At least 11 people, including five children, have been killed by a Russian missile attack in and around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, according to the regional governor. Eight people were also wounded when Russian missiles hit the area, Vadym Filashkin, the governor of the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk region, said on Saturday. “The main blow was dealt to Pokrovsk and Rivne in the community of Myrnograd,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. He said S-300 missiles had been used in a series of attacks, and one hit a house of a family of six. Filashkin released photographs showing rescue workers working through the debris in the aftermath of the bombardment. He said the attack showed Russian forces were “trying to inflict as much grief as possible on our land”. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address, expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and accused Russia of once again deliberately targeting civilian objects. “And Russia must feel – feel every time – that none of these attacks will end without consequences for the terrorist state,” Zelenskyy said. The town of Pokrovsk, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the front line of the fighting, had already been hit by a deadly bombardment last August, which left at least eight people dead and 82 injured. Crimea attack Earlier on Saturday, Ukraine’s military claimed it successfully attacked the Saki military air base in the west of the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. “Saki airfield! All targets were hit!” Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on Telegram. Russian officials did not comment on the alleged attack, but Russia’s defence ministry said in the early hours of Saturday that it had successfully downed four Ukrainian missiles over the peninsula overnight. Later on Saturday, the ministry reported that its air defence forces had shot down six anti-ship missiles over the Black Sea. Ukraine has targeted Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, since the start of Moscow’s full-scale offensive in February 2022. North Korean missiles? Meanwhile, as Russia’s nearly two-year-long war in Ukraine continues, the Kharkiv region prosecutor’s office provided evidence on Saturday that Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles supplied by North Korea, showcasing the fragments. Russia attacked Kharkiv with several missiles this week, killing two people and injuring more than 60 in one of its biggest missile and drone raids since the start of the war. “The production method is not very modern. There are deviations from standard Iskander missiles, which we previously saw during strikes on Kharkiv. This missile is similar to one of the North Korean missiles,” Dmytro Chubenko, spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told media as he displayed the remnants. He said the missile was slightly bigger in diameter than the Russian Iskander missile, while its nozzle, internal electrical windings, and rear parts were also different. On Friday, the US said Russia is using ballistic missiles from North Korea and is seeking close-range ballistic missiles from Iran. In a post on X on Friday, British Defence Minister Grant Shapps warned, “The world has turned its back on Russia, forcing Putin into the humiliation of going cap in hand to North Korea to keep his illegal invasion going. In doing so, Russia has broken multiple UNSC resolutions and put the security of another world region at risk.” UN Security Council resolutions – approved with Russian support – ban countries from trading weapons or other military equipment with North Korea. While the Kremlin has not yet commented on the recent evidence, relations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un have warmed in recent months, with the two leaders also meeting in person in Russia last September. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)
Former US general: Israel may win in Gaza, but fail in the region
US General Mark Kimmitt says Israeli talk of annihilating Gaza ‘sounds good on TV’ but is impractical and illegal. By mimicking United States tactics in World War II in Germany and Japan, Israel has made a grave mistake with its war on Gaza, according to retired US Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt. Kimmitt tells host Steve Clemons that Israel’s tactics – firebombing and “starting new” – have made it unwelcome among the peoples of the region. Despite Israel’s assassination of a top Hamas commander in Lebanon and disruption of shipping routes in the Red Sea, the US is less concerned about regional instability than it was in October. The situation “has not hit US red lines,” he says. Adblock test (Why?)
US diplomat Blinken meets Turkey’s Erdogan, kicking off Gaza diplomacy tour
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met senior Turkish officials in Istanbul, kicking off a week-long trip across the Middle East aimed at calming tensions that have spiked since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October. In his meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Blinken “emphasised the need to prevent the conflict from spreading, secure the release of hostages, expand humanitarian assistance and reduce civilian casualties,” US Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Saturday. Blinken also stressed the need to work towards broader, lasting regional peace that ensures Israel’s security and advances the establishment of a Palestinian state, Miller added. Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, had previously skipped a meeting with Blinken, when the US diplomat visited Ankara in November, over Washington’s staunch backing of Israel’s assault on Gaza. On Saturday, Blinken also met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and discussions focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Turkey’s foreign ministry said. In his conversation with Blinken, Fidan pointed to Israel’s escalating aggression, saying it poses a threat to the entire region. He also underlined the necessity of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, allowing the permanent delivery of aid, and stressed the need to return to two-state solution negotiations as soon as possible, the ministry added. Minister of Foreign Affairs @HakanFidan met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul. At the meeting, Ministers discussed the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Sweden’s NATO accession process, bilateral & regional issues. 🇹🇷🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/UvHbV5YoDs — Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) January 6, 2024 ‘Deescalation’ The US’s strained relationship with Turkey precedes the current war, with the two nations also feuding over foreign policy issues ranging from NATO to Iraq. Ankara is frustrated by the delay in approval from the US Congress for a $20bn deal for 40 F-16 fighter jets. Washington is waiting for Turkey to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO. On Saturday, Blinken and Fidan addressed Ankara’s process to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, according to a Turkish foreign ministry statement. US officials are confident Ankara will soon approve Sweden’s accession after it won the Turkish parliament’s backing last month, a senior State Department official travelling with Blinken told the Reuters news agency. As part of Blinken’s whistlestop tour of several countries, he then travelled to the island of Crete on Saturday to meet Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Fellow NATO member Greece is awaiting the US Congress’s approval of a sale of F-35 fighter jets. Post Greece, Blinken’s tour in the coming days will include Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he will deliver a message that Washington does not want a regional escalation of the Gaza conflict. Blinken also hopes to make progress in talks about how Gaza could be governed if and when Israel achieves its aim of eradicating Hamas. Blinken’s trip has “three main messages”, said Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of Gulf studies at Qatar University: deescalation of the conflict; the humanitarian crisis; and what happens the day after the war ends. “Washington doesn’t seem to be happy over the statements coming from the government of Netanyahu talking about the displacement of the people. They seem to want to put pressure on Netanyahu, especially with London, Paris and Germany saying the status quo of Gaza should not be changed,” Zweiri told Al Jazeera. Blinken has said Washington wants regional countries, including Turkey, to play a role in reconstruction, governance and potentially security in the Gaza Strip, which has been run by Hamas since 2007. At least 22,722 people have been killed and 58,166 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll from the October attack on Israel stands at 1,139 people. Adblock test (Why?)
India’s Aditya-L1 sun mission reaches solar orbit
Launched in September, the solar observation mission will undertake a comprehensive study of the sun. India’s solar observation mission has entered the sun’s orbit after a four-month journey, the latest success for the space exploration ambitions of the world’s most populous nation. The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Aditya-L1 mission was launched in September and is carrying an array of instruments to measure and observe the sun’s outermost layers. “India creates yet another landmark,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X on Saturday. “It is a testament to the relentless dedication of our scientists in realising among the most complex and intricate space missions.” India’s science and technology minister Jitendra Singh said on social media that the probe had reached its final orbit “to discover the mysteries of Sun-Earth connection”. The spacecraft has positioned itself at Lagrange Point 1, from where it will undertake a comprehensive study of the sun, focusing on the solar corona and its influence on space weather. The satellite covered approximately 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) over the span of four months, just a fraction of the Earth-sun distance of 150 million kilometres (93 million miles). Greetings from Aditya-L1! I’ve safely arrived at Lagrange Point L1, 1.5 million km from my home planet. 🌍Excited to be far away, yet intimately connected to unravel the solar mysteries #ISRO pic.twitter.com/BCudJgTmMN — ISRO ADITYA-L1 (@ISRO_ADITYAL1) January 6, 2024 Named after the Hindi word for the sun, this mission follows India’s recent achievement of being the first country to successfully land on the moon’s south pole, with the Chandrayaan-3 mission in August last year. Scientists involved in the project aim to gain insights into the impact of solar radiation on the increasing number of satellites in orbit, with a particular focus on phenomena affecting ventures like Elon Musk’s Starlink communications network. “Today’s event was only placing the Aditya-L1 in the precise Halo orbit … A lot of people are interested in understanding this effect. So we look forward to a lot of scientific outcomes in the coming days. At least five years of life is guaranteed with the fuel left out in the satellite,” ISRO Chairman S Somanath told reporters in India. “We definitely need to know more about the sun, as it controls the space weather,” Manish Purohit, a former ISRO scientist, told the Reuters news agency. The low earth orbit is going to get “super” crowded over the coming years, he added. ISRO has been sharing regular updates of the mission through posts on X, since the solar landing. AdityaL1 Mission: Halo-Orbit Insertion of Aditya-L1 Successfully Accomplished Read more: https://t.co/7QtH9AxKUD#isro #AdityaL1Mission pic.twitter.com/ekYKsdMWxK — ISRO ADITYA-L1 (@ISRO_ADITYAL1) January 6, 2024 The United States and the European Space Agency have sent numerous probes to the centre of the solar system, beginning with NASA’s Pioneer programme in the 1960s. Japan and China have both launched their own solar observatory missions into Earth’s orbit. But the latest mission by the ISRO is the first by any Asian nation to be placed in orbit around the sun. Adblock test (Why?)
Bangladesh to vote in general elections boycotted by opposition
Bangladesh is holding general elections on Sunday, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set to win a fourth straight term and the fifth overall for her Awami League-led alliance, despite overseeing an economy that required an international bailout last year. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) of ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is boycotting the polls after Hasina denied its demand to resign and let a caretaker government run the elections. Women make up almost half of the nearly 120 million eligible voters. First-time voters number about 15 million. Nearly 2,000 candidates overall are vying for the 300 directly elected parliament seats, with a record high of 5.1 percent of women candidates. There are 436 independent candidates in the race, the most since 2001. The BNP says the Awami League has propped up “dummy” candidates to try to make the election look credible, a claim the ruling party denies. Rights groups have accused the government of targeting opposition leaders and supporters, while Hasina and the Awami League have repeatedly condemned the BNP as troublemakers set on sabotaging the elections. Nearly 800,000 police, paramilitary and police auxiliaries will guard the polls on election day. Officials of the army, navy and air force have also been deployed. As many as 127 foreign observers will track the election process to assess its fairness, while 59 journalists from abroad have been accredited. Hasina has been credited with turning around the $416bn economy and its massive garments industry, while also winning international praise for sheltering nearly a million Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in neighbouring Myanmar. But in recent months, the economy, once among the world’s fastest growing, was rocked by violent protests after a jump in the cost of living, as Bangladesh struggles to pay for costly energy imports amid depleting dollar reserves. Adblock test (Why?)
Bangladesh polling booths set ablaze, opposition starts election strike
Police say unidentified arsonists have set fire to at least five primary schools, including four polling stations. Polling booths were set on fire in Bangladesh on the eve of Sunday’s general elections, hours after four people were killed in a suspected arson attack on a commuter train. Police on Saturday said unidentified arsonists set fire to at least five primary schools, including four polling stations. They were investigating fires in Gazipur, on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, suspected to have been set in the middle of the night by those aiming to disrupt the elections, which the main opposition party has pledged to boycott. “We have intensified patrolling and remain on high alert,” said Gazipur police chief Kazi Shafiqul Alam. The election commission has asked authorities to increase security around polling stations. Arsonists also attacked polling booths in the northeastern districts of Moulvibazar and Habiganj, police said, with similar incidents reported elsewhere in the past two days. Police in the coastal district of Khulna arrested two people on Thursday night accused of trying to set fire to a school, which serve as voting stations. The following day, another bid to set fire to a primary school nearby was averted, said Saidur Rahman, police chief of the district. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and numerous other opposition parties, have boycotted the elections, saying they are intended to solidify the rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina, 76, is assured of a fourth consecutive term in Sunday’s vote, which observers have criticised as one-sided. The Khaleda Zia-led BNP on Saturday started a 48-hour general strike, calling on people to boycott the vote, saying the government can’t guarantee its fairness. On Saturday morning, a small group of party supporters marched across Dhaka’s Shahbagh neighbourhood, calling on people to join the strike. Another rally by about 200 left-wing protesters took place outside the National Press Club to denounce the election. “The government is again playing with fire. The government has resorted to its old tactics of holding a one-sided election,” said Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP official. Deadly train fire Meanwhile, police apprehended seven members of the opposition party, accused of an alleged pre-election arson attack on a commuter train on Friday, in which four people were killed. Among those arrested in the capital early on Saturday was Nabiullah Nabi, a senior BNP official, along with six other party activists. “Nabi funded and masterminded the attack,” Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesperson Faruk Hossain told the AFP news agency by phone. Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said the timing of the incident showed an “absolute intention to hinder the festivity, safety and security of the democratic processes of the country”. A rescuer shines his torch from a window as he searches a charred carriage of the Benapole Express in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on January 5, 2024 [Indranil Mukherjee/AFP] “This reprehensible incident, undoubtedly orchestrated by those with malicious intent, strikes at the very heart of our democratic values,” he added in a statement. However, BNP spokesperson AKM Wahiduzzaman told AFP the attacks were pre-planned “acts of sabotage” by the ruling government, aimed at “discrediting the non-violent movement of the BNP”. He said the government was aiming to “divert people’s attention away from the sham election”. Eight people were critically injured in the train fire, officials said. “All eight, including two children, have burnt their respiratory tracts,” said Dr Samanta Lal Sen of a state-run specialist burns hospital in the capital. “We are closely monitoring them,” he told reporters. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Blood for money’: The patients forced to turn to racketeers in Nigeria
Ibadan, Nigeria – A wave of red corrugated roofs welcomes visitors to the city of Ibadan in southwest Nigeria. Inside the 200-year-old city’s centre, incessant traffic winds through narrow, unpaved roads and past crowded open-air markets. At the edge of the city, Opeyemi Dasola’s home, a square fortress of cement, is a calm oasis. Dasola, a streetside cheese seller, is a quiet soul, and the only sound in her living room is the gentle hum of the air conditioner circulating air through the sparsely furnished space. But just a week earlier, this house was rocked with chaos. Fowarogun, Dasola’s 17-year-old daughter, had woken at midnight with a shooting pain starting in her feet and eventually engulfing every part of her body. The girl was frightened, but Dasola already knew what was causing the problem. Fowarogun had been diagnosed with sickle cell anaemia, a hereditary condition that limits the supply of oxygen to the blood, when she was four years old. The disorder occurs due to clusters of sickle-shaped red blood cells, which can obstruct blood vessels, hindering blood flow around the body. It can shorten life expectancy by 20 to 30 years in many countries, but in Nigeria, about 80 percent of sufferers do not even make it to the age of five. The mean age of death for those who do is currently just over 21. This is a condition that Fowarogun’s mother has learned to manage by giving her daily folic acid supplements and avoiding extreme temperatures. Nevertheless, roughly every three years, Fowarogun requires a blood transfusion to keep her healthy. Obtaining blood for her daughter is a source of great anxiety for Dasola. Severe blood shortages have left patients in Nigeria scrambling to find their own private donors, a practice that is illegal, according to the country’s blood regulator, the National Blood Transfusion Commission. The unmet demand for blood, however, has spawned a black market in which people donate blood for profit and where there are few regulations to ensure the blood is free of disease and safe to use. A refrigerator with a few dozen donations of blood type B at Ibadan Transfusion Service [Omotayo Omokehinde/Al Jazeera] With a population of 200 million people, Nigeria requires an estimated 1.8 million units of blood each year for patients who have been in accidents, undergo surgery and need it to treat conditions such as anaemia and other genetic blood disorders. However, each year, only about 500,000 pints (236,600 litres) of blood are collected through official channels. Nigerians are often reluctant to give blood because of beliefs that donating it will make them sick or will weaken men’s libidos. The National Blood Transfusion Commission faces other challenges besides low supplies. Lack of funding is a major problem, Amedu Omale, the commission’s former director general, told Al Jazeera shortly before he retired in August. He said it will cost an estimated $15m to reform the system but it has received only $50,000 from the government since its creation in 2021 by the National Assembly. Before the commission, Nigeria’s blood service was run by the National Blood Transfusion Service, which was created in 1990 and was merely a task force under the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare without much decision-making power. Al Jazeera contacted the ministry for comment but received no reply. A spokesman for the National Blood Transfusion Commission told Al Jazeera that after the agency was established, the government quickly became preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic and the cost of living crisis but the commission hopes to conduct its own fundraising drives in 2024. ‘Family replacement’ With adequate funding, the commission could build a centralised blood collection system in which blood from donors could be screened and separated into components to avoid waste. Blood could also be stored in the right conditions and sorted so it would be ready for delivery to hospitals when needed. There would also be a system to allow hospitals all over the country to coordinate with each other to share blood supplies. Instead, the lack of such a system has forced most hospitals to source blood through a problematic practice known as “family replacement”, in which patients must find a family member to donate the same amount of blood that has been used for the patient. The people donating will typically have to answer a questionnaire about their health, sign an agreement and then donate blood. The blood type does not have to match. People who do not have a family member available to donate will need to find someone who they can pay who will pose as a family member – the hospitals do not check ID. Most hospitals impose a deadline of three to seven days and will not approve a patient for discharge until the blood has been replaced. A commercial blood donor on a stretcher at a local clinic in Ibadan [Omotayo Omokehinde/Al Jazeera] “Family replacement is not ideal because it creates shortcuts and discourages voluntary donation,” said John Aneke, a professor of haematology at Nnamdi Azikiwe University in the southeastern state of Anambra. This system is frowned upon by the public health community, he said, because it helps promote commercial donations from donors who engage in risky lifestyles and increases the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections, such as hepatitis. The requirement that blood replacements must be found before patients are discharged also puts immense pressure on patients, whose bills from spending extra days in the hospital will continue to accumulate. Many end up turning to social media to appeal for donations and to illegal commercial donors or “racketeers”. Commercial donors give blood to earn cash and are normally contacted by middlemen who broker deals between them and the patients. A donor is advised to donate no more than twice a year, but because this practice is illegal, it is not regulated in any way. Many commercial donors donate blood much more frequently than this. Oloyede Adebola, a 37-year-old mother of two, has had to deal with racketeers
The only Palestinian factory making keffiyehs is going strong
Hebron, occupied West Bank – Izzat Yasser Hirbawi, a balding 55-year-old man, stands smiling at the entrance to the Hirbawi Factory in Hebron, the only place in Palestine, its website proudly proclaims, that produces Palestinian keffiyehs. Three Hirbawi brothers, Izzat, Abdullah and Jouda, who now own and operate the factory, started working there as children, accompanying their father, Hajj Yasser, who had founded it in 1961. A merchant turned entrepreneur, Hajj Yasser began his career importing keffiyehs from Syria before deciding to start his own factory with two looms imported from Japan. Hajj Yasser was deeply passionate about the keffiyeh, something he transferred to his boys at an early age, instilling a deep respect for its symbolic value among Palestinians everywhere, as well as the importance of it being made in Palestine by Palestinian hands. “We’re happy … we love our work, no matter how long or hard we work,” Hirbawi tells Al Jazeera. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Vote doesn’t count’: Bangladesh’s ‘bizarre’ election tests ties with West
Dhaka, Bangladesh — Bangladesh is going to hold its national election tomorrow amid a boycott by the principal opposition party, a crackdown on protesters and intense pressure from Western countries who have warned for months about a lack of the vote’s credibility damaging the nation’s democracy. With the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the main political opposition, not contesting, Sunday’s outcome is almost a foregone conclusion, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League widely expected to win its fourth consecutive term. But that win might come with a loss – political pundits and analysts say the manner in which the election is being conducted could affect the South Asian nation’s diplomatic and economic relationships with Western partners, most notably, the United States. The Biden administration has repeatedly criticised the Bangladesh government for its handling of the election, and in September declared visa restrictions on select individuals accused of subverting the democratic process. Bangladesh’s previous two elections were also similarly tainted: the BNP boycotted the election in 2014 and the 2018 vote was marred by allegations of major vote-rigging. A more significant backlash from the US could strain Bangladesh’s already fragile economy and take its seething political unrest – witnessed in large protests over recent months – to a boiling point. The ruling Awami League has tried to give the election a competitive veneer by fielding a number of what they, themselves call “dummy candidates” and running full-fledged election campaigns which ended early on Friday morning. The BNP, meanwhile, has declared a 48-hour nationwide strike from Saturday after conducting its own campaign urging people not to vote. “Boycott the election for public interest, for civil liberties and in the interest of basic freedom of the people,” Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, the joint secretary general of the BNP and one of the few top leaders who are out of jail, told the media on Friday. He also urged the government not to “push the country towards danger by forcing dummy and one-sided elections,” and warned that “power cannot be retained by cheating the people in this way”. A low voter turnout? To many common people, this election no longer makes sense. “Awami League is urging people to vote, knowing their vote will not matter as it will win anyway,” said Tanvir Siddiqui, a businessman in Dhaka. “And BNP is declaring hartal (a protest) on an election day to stop people going to the booth! I have never seen anything more bizarre than this.” When asked whether he would vote in Sunday’s election, Siddiqui told Al Jazeera, “What’s the point? Our vote has stopped counting since the 2014 election.” Sharmeen Murshid, who heads the reputed election observer group Brotee, said her organisation, too, was confused about what it would do on Sunday. “It’s like Awami League vs [Awami League] dummy candidates. What will we observe and how could we measure whether the election was free and fair?” she questioned. Murshid was also sceptical about the likelihood of a reasonable voter turnout. “AL has a huge supporter base but I am not sure even many of their own supporters will bother to visit the poll booth,” she said. For the Awami League, voter turnout, however, is a major concern. “In fact, this is our only concern now,” said Bahauddin Nasim, joint secretary general of the party. Since Bangladesh’s democratic transition from military rule in the early 1990s, the country has witnessed two one-sided elections. In 1996, when the BNP was in power and the Awami League boycotted the election, the turnout was only 28 percent. In 2014, when the roles were reversed – the Awami League was in power and the BNP boycotted – only 39 percent of voters showed up at polling booths. In both cases, the boycotting opposition parties said even those numbers were inflated. Nasim, however, said he was hopeful about a strong turnout and cited the millions of new voters whom he claimed would be keen to exercise their democratic right. As per the election commission’s data, about 15.6 million new voters have registered since the last election of 2018. The country’s voting population now stands at 119.6 million. “Most of these voters are very excited about casting their first votes,” said Nasim, “And by holding the election on time, we are giving them this opportunity.” Nasim also said that since the BNP wasn’t able to secure any significant number of parliamentary seats in the last three elections, they are soon fading away from people’s minds. “Besides, 28 out of 44 registered political parties are taking part in this election. There are 1970 candidates for 300 seats in the parliament. This will be a participatory election,” Nasim added. How will the world react? Dhaka-based political analyst Zahed Ur Rahman told Al Jazeera the Awami League’s main aim in this election is to show the world that even without the main political opposition in Bangladesh’s essentially “two-party politics,” the turnout could be high. “This would help them to establish the narrative that Bangladesh’s democracy has evolved into a multi-party democracy where the BNP is no longer relevant while Awami League very much is,” Rahman said. “But I am not sure who is buying that. Surely neither the common people nor the whole world. Probably Awami League itself is not convinced about it,” Rahman added. Rahman described the election as a “stage-managed mockery of democracy”. More than the outcome or the process of the poll, he said he was worried about its aftermath. “Yes, the BNP is not participating but the election doesn’t mean the poll day, rather it means the whole period since the declaration of the election schedule. We have seen how the Awami League has repressed the opposition with brute force and through court cases,” said Rahman. In the last six weeks, the ruling Awami League had launched what the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has termed a “violent autocratic crackdown” against the BNP and arrested thousands of their top leaders and activists. More than a dozen were also killed in police violence. The US and European nations should
Is Bangladesh on a path to becoming a one-party state?
Voters in Bangladesh are getting ready for general elections on Sunday. It’s a poll that’s dividing much of the country. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to win another term, against virtually no competition. The main opposition is boycotting, objecting to what it says are intimidation, fraud and widespread arrests ordered by the government. Frustration has been building for months, with protesters demanding the prime minister step aside and for a neutral administration to oversee the vote. So, how will this election shape Bangladesh’s future? Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra Guests: Muktadir Rashid – an investigative journalist and reporter with the Bangladeshi daily newspaper, New Age Selim Altaf George – a member of parliament for the governing Awami League party Rumeen Farhana – a barrister and former member of parliament for the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party Adblock test (Why?)