Gabriel Thompson

HR:

01/02
In #Bangladesh's Mirpur #Dhaka, a poor #Hindu woman is being beaten publicly because she was selling fruits in front of the #mosque

Is it a crime to be a Hindu in this world ?
Where are those who talk about human rights ?@zapalak @albd1971 @BDMOFA#Tomar_voice😢🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/qgNavbzweK

— Ravi Tomar सनातनी हिन्दू 💯 %Follow Back 🕉️📿 (@rsiagra) May 1, 2023

 

The tweet I have selected shows a woman who is being beaten for selling fruits in front of a mosque. The tweet states that the woman who is being hit is name Mirpur Dhaka, a poor Hindu women. The video shown in the tweet is quite sad to watch as the treatment of women in most South Asian countries is not very good. Dhaka is being hit by a man with what seems to be a stick of some sort for a couple seconds. Another noticeable part of the video in the tweet is how public the matter is. Dhaka is surrounded by a group of people that are observing the beat down. It’s a sad tweet to see but it serves as an example of how woman are treated in South Asian countries.

The news article I have chosen to write about was written one month ago and its about how the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) demands the resignation of Bangladesh’s current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina. The BNP has staged public meetings all over the country and has organized rallies demanding that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina step down and announce fresh elections. The BNP has made claims that the elections in years prior have been rigged by Sheikh Hasina’s administration so they demand for an election to be held by a “caretaker government” rather than the Awami League. Another reason aside from alleged rigged elections that the BNP wants to protest the current Prime Minister, is because of plans to hike up power prices. The BNP has also made further claims that the Awami League is “clinging to power by using police and bureaucrats. In response to the BNP, the PM Sheikh Hasina said “the extreme rightist and leftist groups” were joining with the BNP to overthrow her government. She made a statement to Press Trust of India, “Let me tell you (BNP) one thing. The Awami League works for the people and their welfare. Don’t think it will fall if one shakes it. Things are not that easy.” This conflict in Bangladesh between the BNP and the PM makes me wonder about the outcomes of the upcoming 2024 election? I wonder if the BNP will gain popularity among civilians and potentially cause PM Sheikh to leave office? I also wonder if the BNP would agree with the circumstances of the 2024 election and who runs it. It would be very interesting to see where this political issue ends in the near future and how it may resolve.

 

https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-opposition-bnp-holds-multiple-protests-demand-pm-sheikh-hasinas-resignation-551688

 

HR: Cited Article

 

x. Gabe Thompson

This is a tweet coming from the Bangladesh Military Affairs page. The tweet describes one of Bangladesh’s  Air Forces humanitarian operations. It mentions how recently there was an earthquake in Syria which left a devastating impact on the people and infrastructure of Syria. To help mitigate the damages, the Air Force of Bangladesh loaded an A C-130-J transport aircraft with tents, blankets, sweaters, dry foods, and medicines. The aircraft carrying the supplies left Bangabandhu Air Base, Dhaka on Friday, February 17th, at 10:30 pm to head over to Syria. This tweet demonstrates the Bangladeshi militaries capabilities for humanitarian efforts and a clear effort towards assisting those in need.

 

Tweet: https://twitter.com/MilitaryBMA_BD/status/1627163077249749001

 

HR: Cited Tweet

x. Gabe Thompson

Gabriel Thompson

Dr. Vera Heuer

IS-339

HR: Attached Article

x. Gabe Thompson

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/blogging-bangladesh-caught-between-rock-and-hard-place-3235271

 

I found this article about controversies in Bangladesh pertaining to the safety of bloggers who comment on socio-political issues in Bangladesh. The article is about a writer named Rajesh Paul who no longer blogs like he used to out of fear for him and his families safety. Rajesh began to steer away from blogging in 2013 due to a spate of fatal attacks and killings of bloggers who commented on similar socio-political issues. Shortly after this spike in attacks the government in Bangladesh released Information and Communication Technology (ICT) act which was widely utilized to persecute and harass critical writers, bloggers and journalists. Out of fear many bloggers began to leave Bangladesh because of the lack of protections put in place for them. In more recent years luckily due to anti-militant crackdowns by law enforcement, incidents of violence towards bloggers has significantly decreased. Although bloggers in Bangladesh still fear that the space for free thinking and blogging has been shrunk due to various legislations like the Digital Security Act. Although, the government in Bangladesh has yet to bring justice to bloggers who have been victims of violence. For example, in the Shahbagh movement which demanded death penalties for war criminals in the 1971 liberation war there were 10 activists killed, none of the families were given proper justice because the court dismissed most of the cases and gave them to lower courts to handle. The primary takeaway from this article for me was the lack of care the Bangladesh government has for a space designed for critical writing and analysis of socio-political issues, potentially out of fear of national security.