Bangladesh at 54: The Past and the Future

Jon Danilowicz :

Those who suffered the most during the almost 16-year tenure of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime understandably are focused on the importance of justice and accountability.

This includes those who were on the streets facing the full force of the regime’s security apparatus and armed auxiliaries in July and August as well as those who were the victims of enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, false imprisonment, and numerous other human rights violations.

In addition to seeing those responsible punished for their crimes, the victims and their families are often looking for the truth of what happened and to also be made whole for the losses that they suffered. More broadly, Bangladesh needs to see justice done in order to deter future governments and ensure that similar abuses are never allowed to happen again.

To its credit, the Interim Government has taken important steps to pursue justice and accountability for the past.

For example, it has initiated reforms of the International Crimes Tribunal, including amendments to its legal foundation and improvements to the court’s physical infrastructure.

While more needs to be done, the Interim Government deserves credit for addressing fundamental flaws that marred the ICT’s earlier proceedings.

The dilemma that the government faces, however, is that the public desire for swift justice clashes with the reality that time is needed to do things correctly. At the same time, many of the principal architects of the former regime’s crimes, in particular former PM Hasina, remain outside of Bangladesh. Some proceedings are likely to begin later this year, but the search for justice will likely need to continue past the interim government’s tenure.

There is also discussion underway about concurrently seeking the involvement of the International Criminal Court for some of the accused, including former PM Hasina. Finally, the issue of accountability for serving members of Bangladesh’s armed forces implicated in the past regime’s crimes remains politically sensitive.

Beyond the search for justice, there is also a need to search for truth. Nowhere is this more important than the work of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances. The Commission’s first interim report provided chilling details of the systematic effort by the Hasina regime to silence its political opponents.

The Commission is expected to soon issue a second interim report before providing a final report by the end of the year. It is likely that the fate of many of the disappeared may remain unknown even at this later date, raising the question of whether the Commission should also continue to exist past the end of the Interim Government’s tenure.

On a related note, there is increasing discussion of the need for some type of Truth Commission in the future to provide a mechanism for some who have knowledge of what happened to the disappeared to come forward without fear of facing criminal charges.

The issue of truth and reconciliation, including acceptance of responsibility and confessions in exchange for some type of forgiveness, will likely fall to the next elected government.

The discussion of the past regime’s crimes, including the efforts undertaken to suppress political opponents, also underscores the need for fundamental reforms of the security sector and the criminal justice system.

These issues have been raised by human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, and were also featured prominently in the UN Human Rights Office’s report on the violations that took place during the July Revolution.

While the Interim Government began a discussion of police and judicial reform in the Commissions formed late in 2024, it is likely that there will be much work left to be done when the next elected government comes to office. What it took years to break simply cannot be repaired overnight.

The raison d’etre of the Interim Government is to pursue necessary political and economic reforms to address the worst excesses of the previous regime in order to set the conditions for free and fair elections.

Chief Advisor Yunus’ approach to reform has been to identify those areas for which there already exists a consensus among the political parties. Drawing upon lessons learned during the 2007-08 period, it appears that the current government’s approach is intended to increase the chances that these reforms will be continued by the next elected government.

With elections expected between late 2025 and mid 2026, there will be precious little time to implement agreed upon reforms before the next transition begins. Ultimately, history will judge the Interim Government based on how successful it is in addressing the worst excesses of its predecessor and setting the country on a path to reform that will continue into the future and prevent a repetition of past false starts on the road to democracy. This is something that all friends of Bangladesh should support.

(Jon Danilowicz is a seasoned American diplomat with deep ties to Bangladesh and South Asia. He was the deputy chief of mission of the Embassy of the United States of America in Bangladesh.

Now a “recovering diplomat,” Danilowicz focuses on both global and local issues, bringing his expertise to international affairs and policy discussions. Having recently returned from a trip to Bangladesh, he continues to engage with the country’s evolving political and economic landscape. Courtesy: www.thefriendsofbangladesh.com).