A US Congress briefing has cast a spotlight on Bangladesh’s alarming drift toward political turmoil and radical threats, just ahead of its February 12 national elections. Key concerns include fraying democratic norms and intensifying attacks on religious minorities, demanding swift international response.
Arranged by HinduAction and Kohna at the Rayburn venue, the event featured Michael Rubin, AEI senior expert, who framed minority protections as the ultimate barometer of reform. He spotlighted Jamaat-e-Islami’s tactic of leveraging Islam to shirk accountability, warning that eroded societal forbearance is nearly impossible to revive.
With Bangladesh’s vast populace and economic influence marking it as South Asia’s trendsetter, Rubin cautioned of its fast track to religious liberty peril status—a red line for US interests. He took aim at Washington’s lag-and-react strategy and mealy-mouthed violence dispatches, accusing them of terror sanitization through linguistic sleight-of-hand.
In Q&A, Rubin outright branded Jamaat-e-Islami terrorists, not politicians. Analyst Adel Nazarian stressed the elections’ far-reaching security implications, critiquing the Awami League’s exclusion as a toxic signal that power is seized, not earned. ‘Concrete actions, not just talk,’ she pressed US leaders.
Gathering scholars, journalists, and community figures days before the vote, the session underscored the urgent need to safeguard Bangladesh’s pluralism and governance amid rising fanaticism.