Bangladesh’s prime minister has dismissed accusations that democracy and rule of law are being undermined by her increasingly authoritarian behaviour and by widespread human rights abuses by the police and security forces.
In a wide-ranging interview in Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina Wazed , Bangladesh’s formidable, long-serving head of government rejected claims that extra-judicial killings, numerous so-called “enforced disappearances”, mass arrests of opposition activists and Islamists, and new restrictions on media and internet freedoms were turning the world’s third largest Muslim nation into a repressive, de facto one-party state.
“My job is to assist the common people,” Hasina said. “I do politics for the people, not for me ... People are enjoying democracy now. What people want is their basic needs. So I’m trying to help people ensure their basic need, that means food security, healthcare, education, and job opportunity and a better life.
“By 2021 Bangladesh will be a middle-income country and by 2041 Bangladesh will be a developed country ... All the democratic institutions are working and people are satisfied and people are enjoying it. So the way you say I am dominating, I am not dominating. I am serving people.” She flatly rejected claims that the security services, implicated in numerous so-called “crossfire” killings, were beyond constitutional or parliamentary control.
Hasina said her ruling Awami League (AL) government had allowed an unprecedented expansion in privately—controlled television channels, newspapers and online media since the 1990s. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015
