Bangladesh's slide towards Islamist mob rule should alarm West: Report

Dhaka, Oct 16 (IANS) Bangladesh’s Chief Advisor to the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, is steering the country towards “Islamist mobocracy”, while the West applauds his efforts to restore democracy, a report highlighted on Thursday.

It added that the mysterious death of the United States Special Forces officer in Dhaka’s Westin Hotel last month, coupled with a recent terror threat targeting the US embassy, should serve as a wake-up call for the West about the sinister developments in Bangladesh before it is too late.

"The alarm raised by the US Embassy in Dhaka this week about an imminent terror attack has brought into sharp focus the resurgence of Islamist radicalism in Bangladesh — something that the West has so far conveniently ignored. The American diplomats have shared details of three possible Islamist radicals who were planning to attack the embassy," a report in 'Eurasia Review' detailed.

According to the report, Bangladesh police, who deployed their specialist units, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) to protect the US Embassy, are tight-lipped about the suspects' identities.

It stressed that the interim government led by Yunus has released dozens of convicted Islamic terrorists from prison since assuming power in August last year.

“Despite all his appeal in the West as a micro-credit guru, Yunus has totally relied on Islamist radical parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami to sustain his interim government. The ban on Jamaat-e-Islami, imposed during Sheikh Hasina’s time on grounds that its pitch for a Sharia-driven Islamist state went against the spirit of Bangladesh’s secular polity, was lifted post-haste. Worst, the Yunus administration released from prisons dozens of convicted Islamist terrorists who are now at large,” the report stated.

“Symbolically, hundreds of Yunus supporters smashed the 'Deepto Shopoth' sculpture of police officers who died fighting Islamist radicals during the July 2016 terror strike at Dhaka’s Holey Artisan Bakery. The police played the silent spectator as these Islamist mobs celebrated the slain terrorists as heroes,” it noted.

The report emphasised how the Yunus government has now framed 25 military officials, who played a key role in the fight against terror during the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure--accusing them of “severe human rights violations” and planning to prosecute them under the International Crimes Tribunal.

“While Yunus has converted Bangladesh into a living prison, dragging tens of thousands of Awami League activists and leaders to jail on largely framed-up charges, scores of convicted Islamist radicals have been let off from prison,” it asserted.

--IANS

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