Dhaka needs to act fast as Washington considers more sanctions on Bangladesh

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A failed and extremely unpopular Joe Biden and his administration are visibly engaging into monkey-business with the ulterior motive of diverting attention of Americans and the world by imposing more sanctions on dozens of Bangladeshi individuals and organizations. While Biden’s men are cooking bogus allegations to justify their sanctions, a vested interest group funded by Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and backed by controversial Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohammed Yunus are making frantic bids in influencing the United Nations to ban participation of the members of Bangladesh Armed Forces and Bangladesh Police in the United Nations Peace Keeping Force (UNPKF).

It may be mentioned here that, President Joe Biden is facing significant skepticism from the American public, with his job approval rating lagging across a range of major issues, including new lows for his handling of crime, gun violence and the economic recovery, a new ABC/Ipsos poll finds.

More than two-thirds of Americans (69 percent) disapprove of how Biden is handling inflation (only 28 percent approve) while more than half (57 percent) disapprove of his handling of the economic recovery. Partisan splits for inflation show expected negativity in Republican views (94 percent disapproving), but the survey also reveals weaknesses from Biden’s own party with only a slim majority of Democrats (54 percent) approving. Biden’s orbit is also hemorrhaging independent voters, with 71 percent disapproving of his handling of inflation.

While Joe Biden’s approval rating is sinking fast, his “running mate” Kamala Harris too is facing a similar fate while there is silent renegade inside the White House against Kamala Harris. A number of her aides have recently left job in fear of being branded as “Kamala’s people”. Everyone is trying to maintain distance from Harris in particular.

In the meantime, there are indications of a disastrous fate for the Democratic Party during the 2022 midterm elections. Analysts say, Republicans will win a landslide thus establishing majority in the Congress and Senate. Meaning, for Biden, after November 2022, things will be extremely difficult, while there are issues related to his health and ability to perform as the president of the US.

With all such odds, Joe Biden and his administration are now resorting to series of foul bids, and their recent sanctions on some of the officials of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), Bangladesh Police and declaring the former Army Chief Aziz Ahmed persona non grata are part of the nasty attempts.

The scandalous Mohammed Yunus

The euphoria generated by the media after Yunus won the Nobel Prize got dissipated following reports appeared in Blitz as well as some other media outlets in Bangladesh and abroad – highlighting high interest rates charged by the Grameen Bank, tough payment schedules and inhuman recovery methods leading to miseries including suicides committed by the poor loan defaulters.

For years, international community has been made to believe that Mohammad Yunus was lending money to rural poor people in Bangladesh, especially woman, as a very comfortable and low interest. This was what Yunus had told everyone while receiving fund for his blood-sucking venture.

In most cases, Yunus was getting interest-free fund or fund with a very nominal annual interest. According to media reports, the highest amount of annual interest on any foreign loan that Grameen Bank had received was 3 percent. Moreover, a major segment of the foreign loans or grants received by Grameen Bank were extremely low or free from any interest. But Yunus was lending money to poor people at a rate ranging between 40-70 percent per year! For this reason, Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League had rightly termed Yunus as bloodsucker of the poor.

The bloodsucking show of Dr Muhammad Yunus was exposed by Blitz in 2011 through a number of investigative reports. Prior to publication of the reports, our reporters were sent to Jobra village in Chattogram, which was claimed to be the model “success story” of Yunus and his Grameen Bank. Our reporters interacted with the villagers and collected information as well as photographs, to expose the lies of Yunus.

It may be mentioned here that, Mohammad Yunus projected a documentary film on woman’s fortune at the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony in Oslo, Norway on October 13, 2006, through which he had falsely claimed his success story. The documentary mainly focused on the first borrower of Grameen Bank, Sufia Begum [also spelled as Sufiya Begum], showing her as owning a two-stotey building after rising from miserable condition.

But in reality, our reports had exposed the real condition of Sufia Begum. Although Yunus and Grameen Bank claimed to have helped her in erecting her own building, in reality, she was living in dire economic condition in an almost broken hut, with other members of her family. The building which Yunus and Grameen Bank was showing as Sufia’s in their documentary films was actually owned by an individual named Jabel Hussain, an expatriate Bangladeshi in Dubai.

The owner Jabel Hussain had, from Dubai, instructed his relatives in Bangladesh to sue Yunus and Grameen bank if his two storey house is again shown as Sufia’s in future. There had never been any response or comment or statement from Yunus and his Grameen Bank though the Blitz report was read by hundreds and thousands of people from around the world.

Furthermore, Nurun Nahar, the youngest daughter of Sufia Begum told Blitz reporters that though Mohammad Yunus earned name, fame and even Nobel Prize, her mother being the first borrower of microcredit scheme could not change her life and had to lead a miserable life. She said, Sufia Begum took loan to start a cane business but found her trapped in a vicious circle of loan and interest. Later, she was compelled to take loan from different sources to repay Grameen Bank.

It may be mentioned here that, at personal efforts of Bill and Hillary Clinton, bloodsucker Yunus was given highest civilian medal in the US by President Barack Obama. And now, possibly Clintons and several influential figures in the Capitol Hill have exerted influence in getting their “loving Yunus” the latest Olympic Laurel trophy. On receiving the trophy, Yunus may broadly smile in front of cameras to prove again, how “great” he is. But in the reality, by giving the Olympic Laurel trophy to a non-sports personality, International Olympic Committee has certainly tarnished its own image, while the world has now possibly understood, Nobel Peace Prize or all of those prestigious awards from the US administration were just the result of heavy political influence.

Bangladesh needs to take immediate counter measures

Especially after US State Department and Treasury Department’s ridiculous decision of imposing sanctions of several Bangladeshi officials and State Department’s declaring General (Retired) Aziz Ahmed as persona non grata, it is anticipated that such ridiculous attempts may continue and deepen further. Because, Mohammed Yunus as well as lobbyists appointed by Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami are working tireless in putting Awami League government into trouble. To foil such notoriety, it is essential for Bangladesh to take immediate steps and measures.

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