Article: Bangladesh’s Yunus says ousted PM Hasina ‘destroyed everything’
With Bangladesh’s previous Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, being ousted after her 15 year rule, Bangladesh is left in dire need of reforms. Such reforms include bringing back democratic principles which Hasina had thrown away for over a decade-long reign. Other reforms include the electoral system, their constitution, and diplomatic presence in the international community. The current interim leader, Yunus Muhammed, has explicitly shared his disdain for Hasina’s leadership, specifically how she orchestrated faux elections to win for three terms. The International Crimes Tribune in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for Hasina. And once a trial has proceeded and a verdict is reached, India is obliged to send Hasina back to Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina has faced widespread dissent from a majority of Bangladeshis, especially Gen Z after numerous protests following anti-protest rhetoric from the Prime Minister. The interim leader has made specific claims about Bangladesh hoping to revive SAARC, an IGO centered on economic and political cooperation throughout South Asia. SAARC has crumbled ever since hostilities between Pakistan and India heightened. Bangladesh also hopes to join ASEAN, an IGO focused on economic and political cooperation for Southeast Asian countries. Given that Bangladesh is soon to rise out of the UN’s list of least developed countries as stated in this article, it sets Bangladesh apart from other South Asian powers. Bangladesh would ideally serve as the link between SAARC and ASEAN. Muhammad Yunus has stated numerous goals for Bangladesh as it enters a new post-Hasina era, and has also stated that these reforms will take time. I want to emphasize that point in terms of their global presence and wanting to revive and join certain IGO’s. I think the largest boulder between Bangladesh reviving SAARC and thus joining ASEAN is simply the overshadowing relations between Pakistan and India. It is clear that Bangladesh is reliant on those countries to minimize hostilities which would allow it to truly revive SAARC and thus forge pathways to become the link between SAARC and ASEAN, ultimately creating greater cooperation and economic opportunities throughout Southern Asia as a whole. And considering Pakistan’s plummeting economy and relations with China as covered in the previous blog post, it would serve them well to potentially look for greater economic and trade relations with India. This event reminds me of and can surely be explained through both a Liberal and Realist lens. Through a liberalist lens, one can argue that Bangladesh is emphasizing the importance of regional cooperation through international institutions, such as SAARC and ASEAN, to not only boost its own economy but promote an ideally thriving Southern Asia. However, one could use a realist lens to argue that while these are ideal goals that can have positive effects, Bangladesh is ultimately constrained and bound by the political tensions of its neighbors: India and Pakistan. This explanation puts emphasis on the anarchic state of the world, specifically the Indian sub-continent, and shows how the players’ ideal aims, Bangladesh in this case, are bound by the circumstances of the international system.