A report by a group of UK MPs criticising Bangladesh’s interim government has been withdrawn after allegations emerged that it was prepared in favour of the government of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The report, which was released by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Commonwealth Affairs (AAPG) in November, criticised the current interim government in Bangladesh. It was alleged that many of the information in the report was inaccurate.
UK government officials said the report was no longer being circulated and was being reviewed after an MP complained in the House of Commons. A spokesman said the report was an internal document under review. It was no longer being distributed.
The report, titled ‘The Current Situation in Bangladesh’, was released to the media in November, three months after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in the face of protests in Bangladesh. The protests were met with widespread repression by law enforcement, resulting in an estimated 1,000 deaths.
The report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (AAPG) criticized Hasina’s successor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus. AAPG chair Andrew Rosindale of the Conservative Party wrote in a press release, “Bangladesh deserves a prosperous future, one that is open to all, not just supporters of the incumbent. Unless this trend changes immediately, the international community’s expectations of the new government will be undermined and risk being undermined.”
The report accused Professor Muhammad Yunus’ government of using “law as a political tool” and patronizing “radical Islamists.”
“We have found evidence that the number of murder charges against former ministers, Awami League leaders, MPs, former judges, scholars, lawyers and journalists is so high that their credibility is questioned,” said the report, which is based largely on evidence from the Rights and Risk Analysis Group, a New Delhi-based think tank.
Source: The Guardian
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