The United States has rejected allegations of government involvement in the Bangladesh crisis, including protests in the country that led to the deaths of hundreds of people.
Denying all reports and rumours, White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said in a media briefing on Monday (local time), “So, we have no involvement. Any reports or rumours that the United States government was involved in these incidents are absolutely false. It’s not true.”
Jean-Pierre further said that the Bangladeshi people should determine the future of the Bangladeshi government.
Jean-Pierre said, “This is a choice made for and by the Bangladeshi people. We believe the Bangladeshi people should decide the future of the Bangladeshi government and that’s what we stand by. Any allegations, of course we will continue to say and what I have said here is completely untrue.”
Recently, in an interview with ANI, US-based foreign policy expert and Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center Michael Kugelman refuted allegations of foreign interference behind the massive uprising to oust Sheikh Hasina and said that he has not seen any “plausible evidence” to support these claims.
He said the Hasina government’s harsh crackdown on protesters further escalated the movement. “My view is very simple. I see it as a crisis that was driven entirely by internal factors, by students who were unhappy about a particular issue, job quotas that they didn’t like and they were concerned about the government. Sheikh Hasina’s government acted very harshly on the students and then the movement became even bigger. And it was driven solely by internal factors,” Kugelman said.
Kugelman rejected allegations by Sheikh Hasina’s son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who claimed foreign interference was behind the protests, saying the unrest was driven by “internal factors”.
He said, “Now, you know, when there is a conspiracy theory which is based on issues of foreign influence, one cannot prove such an allegation wrong. Also, one cannot prove it conclusively. I think it is the responsibility to point out how this can be true. I am yet to hear this from Sheikh Hasina’s son or anyone else.”
Meanwhile, speaking on the protests outside the White House against the recent attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh, White House Press Secretary Jean-Pierre said the US will continue to monitor the situation.
“We will of course continue to monitor the situation. Other than that I have nothing to say or add,” Jean-Pierre said.
“The president has been very consistent in speaking out loud and clear both publicly and privately when it comes to any type of human rights issue here and he will continue to do that. But I don’t have any specifics to talk about at this point,” he said.
The political situation in Bangladesh has been volatile since Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister amid growing protests on August 5. The protests, which were led by students demanding the abolition of the quota system in government jobs, turned into anti-government demonstrations.
A large number of people protested outside the White House in Washington on Friday last week against the alleged violence targeting minority Hindus and others in Bangladesh since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Protesters carried American and Bangladeshi flags and held posters demanding that Bangladeshi minorities “be saved.” They chanted “We want justice” and called for peace amid a recent surge in violence.
The crowd included activists from various human rights organizations, members of the Bangladeshi expatriate community, and Indian-American Hindu allies who came from Washington, Maryland, Virginia, and New York.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a message on Thursday also called for the “safety and protection” of Hindus and other minorities in Bangladesh.
“My best wishes to Professor Muhammad Yunus on assuming his new responsibility. We hope that normalcy will be restored soon and the safety of Hindus and all other minority communities will be ensured. India is committed to working with Bangladesh to meet the shared aspirations of the people of both countries for peace, security and development,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
Thousands of Bangladeshi Hindus are fleeing to neighbouring India to escape the violence. Hindus, who make up about 8 per cent of Bangladesh’s 170 million population, have traditionally supported Hasina’s Awami League party, which has faced strong criticism after violent clashes between anti-reservation protesters and security forces last month.
Several US leaders, including Republican Congressman Pat Fallon and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, have also raised their voices against the alleged violence in Bangladesh.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
