Following issuance of new visa policy for Bangladesh by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on May 25, 2023, the European Union (EU) too is now considering similar actions within the next few weeks.
It may be mentioned here that lobbyists and activists of pro-Islamist Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are continuing numerous forms of conspiracy against Bangladesh, targeting Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ruling Awami League, members of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies as well as judiciary. On May 24, 2023, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued the press release titled ‘Announcement of Visa Police to Promote Democratic Elections in Bangladesh’ through the website of the State Department.
Diplomatic sources in Brussels said, from September this year none of the EU nations shall send their heads of state, heads of government, ministers of important officials to Bangladesh as they think, ruling Awami League may use such visits in their election campaign.
Also read DOJ asks American banks to provide account info of Bangladeshi nationals
The source further said, on July 8, 2023, a high-level delegation shall visit Bangladesh for 13 days to monitor the atmosphere in Bangladesh prior to the upcoming general elections. They also will scrutinize issues related to human rights and freedom of press, while the Digital Security Act shall come under special scrutiny.
Meanwhile, six members of the US Congress from the Republican Party, in a letter to President Joe Biden, have sought “stricter individual sanctions” and banning Bangladesh law enforcement and military personnel from participating in UN peacekeeping missions”.
According to documentary evidence, lobbyists and activists of BNP have been pursuing members of the US Congress, Senate as well as key officials at the State Department and Department of Treasury with propaganda materials against ruling Awami League and members of law enforcement and intelligence agencies and judiciary, with the ulterior motive of misguiding the US policymakers and officials about Bangladesh. At the frantic bids of BNP, six Republican members of the US Congress have written a letter to President Joe Biden on May 17, 2023. Signatories of this letter are: Bob Good, Scott Perry, Barry Moore, Tim Burchett, Warren Davidson, and Keith Self.
In the letter asking for “urgent action” these Republican members of the US Congress called upon President Biden to impose “stricter individual sanctions, banning Bangladesh law enforcement and military personnel from participating in UN peacekeeping missions”.
Although contents of the above-mentioned letter are based on false reports of a number of controversial NGOs and publications, which have been running orchestrated propaganda against Bangladesh for years, according to a credible source, several members of the Republican and Democratic party parties are taking preparations for introducing a bi-partisan bill in the US Congress on the above matter within the next few weeks.
Another report said, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is asking American banks to provide detailed information on bank accounts of Bangladeshi-Americans living in the United States or Bangladeshi citizens having bank accounts in the country. Meanwhile, another US organization began gathering information on properties owned by Bangladeshi citizens. Such steps have already generated doubt as several US lawmakers have called upon President Joe Biden to impose ‘stricter sanctions’ on a number of individuals in Bangladesh. It was earlier reported in the media that lobbyists working for Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) have been frantically pushing the US Department of Treasury to impose sanctions on dozens of Bangladeshi nationals using the Global Magnitsky Act.
Nefarious propaganda against Bangladesh
While Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami have been spending hugely towards lobbyist activities in the United States and other western nations with the ulterior agenda of unseating ruling Awami League government from power, and while BNP recently has appointed US President Joe Biden’s scandalous son Hunter Biden as its lobbyist, several former diplomats of the US, including William B Milam have joined BNP-Jamaat’s notorious anti-Bangladesh propaganda.
On May 28, 2023, just within 3 days of Antony Blinken’s announcement of new visa policy for Bangladesh, Jon Danilowicz, a member of Bangladesh Nationalist Party funded nonprofit rights organization, ‘Right to Freedom’ and a retired Department of State Senior Foreign Service Officer and former Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Bangladesh wrote an article titled ‘US visa policy: What is next?’ in an website named ‘South Asia Perspectives’ advocating US embassy in Dhaka to gather information related to violation of human rights and anything that may be punitive under the newly announced visa policy from sources within “civil society activists, journalists, and human rights defenders”.
It may be mentioned here that, ‘Right to Freedom’ is run by William B Milam, Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey. Ansarey, one of the key figures in Tarique Rahman’s infamous Hawa BhabanI who has worked as the Assistant Press Secretary to then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. Jon Danilowicz is also a member of this pro-Islamist entity.
Mushfiqul Fazal Ansarey, who is known for his affiliations with jihadist groups has been making frantic bids with the direct collaboration of William B Milam, Jon Danilowicz and others in pushing the United Nations as well as the US Department of State in unseating Awami League government through undemocratic process. Earlier they pursued the United Nations as well as the US Department of State in bringing more politicians and civil-military officials from Bangladesh under fresher sanctions using Global Magnitsky Act and blacklisting Bangladesh Armed Forces and Bangladesh Police from participating in the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces.
Ansarey has been working as the “Permanent Correspondent” of an illegal website named ‘Just News’, with active collaboration of William Bryant Milam (William B Milam), an American diplomat, who is known as the Senior Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, has been making desperate bids both in the Capitol in Washington DC and the UN Headquarters in New York City, with the agenda of misleading key policymakers in Washington and the UN against Bangladesh and ruling Awami League and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It may be mentioned here that ‘Just News’ does not have any existence in Bangladesh.
