Bangladesh diasporas protest US congressmen’s letter seeking action against Bangladesh

Congress of Bangladeshi Americans, an organization working with Bangladeshi-American community in the USA, sent a rejoinder to Republican Congressman Barry Moore as he sent letters to US President, Secretary of State and US ambassador to UN seeking actions against Bangladesh.

“We sincerely urge you and other congressmen to conduct a fact-checking before signing a solicited letter demanding extreme measures like sanctions, bans, prevention, and other actions against a foreign country,” reads the rejoinder signed by about 300 Bangladeshi Americans.

“We raise our deep concern about accuracy of the information listed in two letters of by the Congressmen. We believe the content of the letters was one-sided and far from the ground reality,” it said.

The style of languages in each letter has a common agenda, condemning Bangladesh government and its security agencies, it noted.

“As Bangladeshi Americans, we feel embarrassed that the facts and reasoning established in the letters are similar to those of lobbying firms working for their paid client Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its prime alliance Islamist militant organization Jamaat-E-Islami,” the rejoinder said.

It added that the evidence stated in the Congressmen’s letters was flawed and some are aimed to steer misinformation campaigns against Bangladesh government, and its institutions to facilitate unholy political gain for some political quarters.

The rejoinder said, the Congressmen’s letters seriously undermined the tremendous socio-economic, political, human rights, women’s rights, gender equality, and religious tolerance progress gained in the last decade under the current government.

The uncalled campaign against Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh will destabilize the safety and security of entire South Asia which is 25.2 percent of the total world population, they said.

They underscored the need for carrying out a proportional and thorough study on the present government and past government’s initiatives taken for socio-economic progress, curbing regional and international terrorism, peaceful political pluralism, human rights, women’s rights, gender equality, and religious tolerance.

They pointed out that most international organizations including the UN attributed the positive and timely actions of Bangladesh government in all sectors over the last decade that enormously facilitated the country to emerge as a developing one from the least developed country (LDC).

Bangladesh Americans recalled that in 52 years of independence Bangladesh about half of the time was ruled by autocratic military regimes. In 1975, democratically elected government of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation, was overthrown in a bloody coup d’état.

After assuming office in 2002, the then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and his infamous son Tarique Rahman and its political apparatus carried out a vicious violent deadly campaign against the minority (Hindu, Buddhist and Christian) civilians of the country.

Regrettably, the congressmen completely failed to focus on those established facts and went reverse blaming the current government led by Bangladesh Awami League for torturing minorities, the rejoinder said adding that Bangladesh Hindu Bouddha Christian Oikya Parishad, a central platform of minorities condemned the facts stated in the Congressmen’s letters as misleading, false and conspiracy against Bangladesh and religious minorities.

The rejoinder said the letter sent to Linda Thomas is clearly one sided and not based on facts and surely not to establish the rule of law, democracy and protect the religious minorities of Bangladesh.

The Congressmen’s letter improperly recommended Linda Thomas to take unlawful preemptive actions against the incumbent government of Sheikh Hasina based on make-believe assumption that the upcoming election will not be fair and transparent.

“This can be viewed as if the court condemned the defendant before the trial starts”, the rejoinder opined.

The rejoinder said, “We are baffled with the request the congressmen made asking the UN ambassador to take action to suspend Bangladesh’s membership to UN Human Rights Council, impose a temporary ban on RAB from deploying in UN peacekeeping operations.”

The signatories recalled that in the backdrop of catastrophic terror attack in US soil on September 11, 2001, the entire world realized the imminent danger posed by fundamentalist terrorists anywhere and everywhere in the world.

With that realization, Bangladesh joined the international community to wage campaign to root out the terrorists from its soil, they said.

Thus, the RAB was formed and given the assignment to lead combating terrorism. Within a short period of time the elite force was able to restrain, curb and eliminate the root of terrorism in Bangladesh, Bangladeshi Americans said.

The success of RAB in combating terrorism not only helped Muslim majority of Bangladesh from looming danger of becoming breeding ground of international terrorists like Afghanistan or Pakistan.

RAB’s heroic effort effectively accelerated curbing and eliminating cross-border and international terrorism and RAB was formed, trained, and equipped with the assistance from US forces in line with the US interests, the rejoinder said.

Pointing out the highest contribution of Bangladesh to the UN peacekeeping missions working in the most dangerous parts of the world to bring peace and prosperity, the Bangladeshi Americans said, “We are unaware of host countries or the UN reporting any incidents of human rights violations by RAB or other forces.”

Bangladesh forces in the UN mission are serving with dignity, achievements, reputation, and leadership skills, it said.

“We are unaware on what grounds you are requesting the UN ambassador to pursue banning RAB from the UN mission,” they asked.

The absence of Bangladesh forces will cause tremendous destabilization, disruption, and complete deterioration of peace in those volatile tense regions, they noted.

Mentioning about massive influx of Rohingya people from Myanmar in 2007 the Bangladesh Americans said, Bangladesh being one of the world’s most densely populated country, has set an example by  giving shelter and rehabilitating more than one million Rohingya people.

Countries around the world and the UN praised Bangladesh and Sheikh Hasina’s effort on Rohingya issues with bestowing her the title “Mother of Humanity.”

Noting that the USA is celebrating its 247th Independence Day in 2023, the letter questioned- In USA aren’t you still working on your democratic system, human rights, religious rights, and many other difficulties?”.

The Signatories of this rejoinder include- Mahammad Ali Siddique, Chairman, Congress of Bangladeshi Americans Inc, Shamim Chowdhury, Chief Advisor, Congress of Bangladeshi Americans Inc, Md. Monzur Chowdhury, Secretary General, Congress of Bangladeshi Americans Inc. Dr. Pradip Ranjan Kar, Advisor, Congress of Bangladeshi Americans Inc., Shah Md. Boktiar, Director, Congress of Bangladeshi Americans Inc. (BSS)