00:00 Ahmed Bangladesh's impeding elections Abdul Moin Khan, an opposition leader, has evaded
00:08 his arrest by taking refuge in his different homes across Bangladesh.
00:12 The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, also known as the BNP, has decided not to contest the
00:17 January 7 vote, believing the conditions are unconductive for a fair election.
00:22 Moin Khan and his party boycotted the election after the incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh
00:26 Hasina has declined to establish an interim government to just oversee the polls.
00:32 The BNP claims that around 10 million party members are on the run after nearly 25,000
00:37 individuals were arrested following the violent anti-government protests on October 28.
00:42 They report that the police and government agents were hunting down their leaders, instilling
00:46 fear in their community.
00:48 According to Moin Khan, the situation is worse than what was during the 2018 election, preventing
00:53 the party from organising rallies due to attacks on its members.
00:58 While the BNP has denounced the government's actions, Hasina and her Awami-linked party
01:02 have labelled the BNP as a troublemaker seeking to disrupt the elections.
01:07 International human rights groups have also warned that the crackdown will suppress the
01:10 opposition.
01:11 Some human rights watch have also reported more than 10,000 arrests of BNP activists,
01:15 with at least 16 dead and 5,500 injured in the clashes.
01:19 Moin Khan highlighted the overcrowding in jails, with inmates doubling in capacity.
01:24 He too faced heightened risks of arrests necessitating his disguise to conceal his identity.
01:29 Surprisingly, this crackdown coincides with the leadership disarray within the party.
01:33 Khaleda Zia, the ailing BNP president and Hasina's long-standing rival, refrains from
01:38 active politics.
01:39 Her son, temporarily leading the party, is also in exile.
01:42 Mirza Fakhr-ul-Islam Alamgir, the next senior leader, has been detained since October 29.
01:47 Additionally, some 100 female BNP workers and some known leaders have been under arrest
01:52 in the past month and a half, adding to the trauma of separation from their families.
01:57 A series of attacks against opposition members, including a crude bomb attack on residences,
02:01 has added fuel to the tensions, though police actions in response to these attacks have
02:06 been questioned too.
02:07 The United States is also condemning the violence and has taken measures against individuals
02:11 believed to undermine the elections, affirming support for a free and fair election conducted
02:16 peacefully.
02:17 However, the Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina believes that the BNP is working
02:21 under the influence of foreign players or, more importantly, under the Western influence.
02:26 Despite Hasina's achievement in sheltering Rohingya refugees and stabilising the economy
02:30 in previous years, recent economic challenges have emerged, prompting an IMF bailout due
02:34 to the country's slow economy following global geopolitical events.
02:39 This current crackdown has led observers to question the fairness and transparency of
02:43 the upcoming elections too.
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