Worrying news are coming from Bangladesh. President and the chief of caretaker government Iajuddin Ahmed has declared a state of emergency. Curfew has been imposed for capital Dhaka and more than 60 other cities and towns from late Thursday night. The curfew will remain in force each night for six hours starting from 11 p.m. (17:00 GMT). Bangladesh's upcoming parliament election has become uncertain after the opposition grand alliance had decided to boycott the election on the charge of the election process being skillfully engineered.
Bloggers are asking whether there was really any situation to declare an emergency. The opposition has declared a program of agitation and blockades starting January 14th. It seems the caretaker government under the partisan president (BNP) Iajuddin Ahmed is determined to run the election without the parties boycotting the election. They are not taking into account whether this one-sided election will be acceptable to the nation let alone foreign observers. The UN has already suspended its technical support for Bangladesh poll and closed its International Coordination Office for Election Observers in Dhaka. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement:
"The political crisis in Bangladesh has severely jeopardized the legitimacy of the electoral process"
In another disturbing news the government is thinking to impose an embargo on broadcasting news in more than 10 Bangladeshi TV channels except the state run BTV. This will be a big blow to the freedom of speech of the country.
If this is not military dictatorship, then what is it?
Ps: Drishtipat has more.
How to send news when internet is blocked from Bangladesh
