U.S. says Bangladesh elections not free or fair; UN also voices concern over violence, irregularities
The Hindu
A day after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party emerged victorious at the polls, the U.S. and United Nations (UN) voiced concern over violence and reports of irregularities on the day of elections, with Washington noting that the polls were not free or fair and regretted that not all parties participated in the ballot.
A day after Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's party emerged victorious at the polls, the U.S. and United Nations (UN) voiced concern over violence and reports of irregularities on the day of elections, with Washington noting that the polls were not free or fair and regretted that not all parties participated in the ballot.
The U.S. State Department, in a press statement on January 9, said that Washington remains concerned by the arrests of thousands of political Opposition members and by reports of irregularities on elections day in Bangladesh.
“The United States shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and we regret that not all parties participated,” the State Department said.
While noting that Sheikh Hasina's Awami League won a majority of seats in the January 7 Parliamentary elections, the State Department said that Washington condemns violence that took place during elections and in the months leading up to it.
“We encourage the Government of Bangladesh to credibly investigate reports of violence and to hold perpetrators accountable. We also urge all political parties to reject violence,” it said.
The State Department added that the U.S. supports the people of Bangladesh and their aspirations for democracy, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of expression.
“Looking ahead, the United States remains committed to partnering with Bangladesh to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, to supporting human rights and civil society in Bangladesh, and to deepening our people-to-people and economic ties,” it said.

On World Book Day (April 23), Sriram Gopalan was desk-bound at his noncommercial library and thumbing through pages — not pages that flaunted printed words, but empty pages that hoped to host words, handwritten words. At Prakrith Arivagam, as this library at Alapakkam in New Perungalathur is called, Sriram was swamped by stacks of half-used notebooks. Ruled and unruled, long and short, white and yellowed, smudged and dog-eared notebooks. He was tearing out the untouched pages to settle them between new covers and find them a new pair of hands. Sriram was not labouring at this work alone. The sound of pages being ripped out intact filled the room: he was with people who are on the same page about how half-used notebooks ought to be treated. They collect used notebooks, extract the blank pages which they would ultimately bind into fresh notebooks: on for weeks now, this activity would extend through May. The epilogue to the exercise: donating the notebooks thus made to government schools and benefitting underprivileged children. This “summer-vacation volunteering assignment” is in its second year. And by the look of it, it has added more pages and chapters. Last year, with the support of volunteers from the local residents community, the team managed to repurpose and distribute 800 notebooks to children at a Panchayat Union school at Alapakkam under Nergundram panchayat in Perungalathur. This year, the bar has been set decisively higher.