UK MPs withdraw report criticising current Bangladesh regime over ‘bias’
Share:
Exclusive: Complaints said report was 'inaccurate’ and biased in favour of ousted Sheikh Hasina’s government. A group of MPs has withdrawn a controversial report into Bangladesh after complaints that it was biased in favour of the ousted government of Sheikh Hasina.
The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the Commonwealth issued a report on Bangladesh last November that criticised the current regime in Dhaka but was accused of significant inaccuracies. Officials say, however, that it is no longer being distributed and is “under review” after a Labour MP complained about it in the House of Commons.
“The report in question remains an internal document under review and has been shared with the [Foreign Office] as part of the group’s broader deliberative process,” a spokesperson said. “It is not intended for wider dissemination, and the APPG will not be taking the matter further or making any follow-ups.”.
The admission comes after Hasina’s niece Tulip Siddiq resigned as City minister over her previously undisclosed links to her aunt’s party, triggering accusations that the Awami League was interfering in British politics. The report, entitled The Ongoing Situation in Bangladesh, was released to the press in November, three months after Sheikh Hasina was deposed by a student-led rebellion against her authoritarian rule. That rebellion was met by a brutal but ultimately unsuccessful crackdown from security forces, resulting in an estimated 1,000 deaths.
The report makes a series of criticisms about Hasina’s successor, the Nobel peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative chair of the APPG, wrote in an accompanying press release: “Bangladesh should have a great future where opportunities are open and available to everyone rather than just supporters of whatever regime is in power … Without an immediate change of tack, the goodwill the new government enjoys internationally will be in danger of evaporating.
