[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   BREAKING THE IMPASSE IN BANGLADESH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Schiff) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, the political standoff between the two main 
political parties in Bangladesh has rocked that country and threatened 
its democracy, its stability, and its economic progress.
  Throughout 2013 and in the run-up to elections last week, a series of 
general strikes paralyzed Bangladesh, and hundreds were killed in 
clashes between rival political factions. Opposition leaders and human 
rights activists were arrested, and Bangladeshi courts were used to 
target opposition figures and their sympathizers.
  The feud in Bangladesh pits Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the leader 
of the ruling Awami League party, against Khaleda Zia, a former Prime 
Minister who is the leader of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist 
Party, or BNP. The leaders, known to their countrymen as the ``two 
ladies,'' have dominated Bangladeshi politics since democracy was 
restored in the mid-1990s, when Hasina's Awami positioned itself as 
secular and social democratic in ideology and Zia's BNP as more 
centrist and religious.
  Tense relations between the two women and their supporters were 
further inflamed last year when a third party allied with BNP was 
barred from participating in the elections and the government declined 
to dissolve itself in favor of a caretaker government that would exist 
only to supervise the elections. This had been the custom in Bangladesh 
in prior elections.
  Prime Minister Hasina's actions convinced Ms. Zia that BNP would be 
better served by boycotting the polling, which the BNP did in the hopes 
that the government would be pressured into resigning before the vote. 
When the government did not accede to the BNP's demands, the opposition 
took to the street. But the government held firm and, amid diminished 
voter turnout and widespread violence, Awami swept last week's vote, 
deepening the crisis.
  Born from a brutal civil war in 1971, Bangladesh has faced enormous 
challenges in its 43-year history--endemic poverty, one of densest 
populations in the world, and unpredictable weather that both sustains 
and destroys the country's year-round agricultural production.
  Governance, too, has been a challenge, with the country consistently 
ranked among the world's most corrupt and the nation's institutions 
highly politicized. And nothing has come to symbolize the failure of 
governance like the garment industry and its horrific record on worker 
safety, a record that threatens the cornerstone of Bangladesh's 
economy.
  In spite of these and a host of other challenges, Bangladesh has made 
remarkable strides. According to a report issued by the World Bank last 
June, from 2000 until 2010, Bangladesh experienced steady and strong 
GDP growth of nearly 6 percent per year on average. Even so, about a 
third of Bangladeshis live in poverty, and economic hardship is 
especially prevalent in the rural parts of the country.
  Given the country's history, its recent progress and the hurdles 
remaining, if Bangladesh is to reach its goal of becoming a middle-
income country by 2021, the question of governance is central and makes 
the political standoff that has gripped the country even more tragic 
and counterproductive. Bangladesh's middle-income aspirations are 
contingent on a significant rise in GDP growth and a broad reform 
agenda, neither of which is possible under current conditions.
  Fortunately, there is a precedent that could allow for an exit from 
the impasse through new elections. In February 1996, elections were 
boycotted by Awami and other opposition parties, and the BNP took 
nearly all of the seats, touching off a crisis of legitimacy similar to 
that now gripping Dhaka. Four months later, new elections were held 
under the auspices of a caretaker government, and the outcome favored 
Awami.
  Now, as then, the time has come for cooler heads to prevail and for a 
new election to be called that will give all parties the time and space 
needed to organize and campaign. The recent release of Ms. Zia from 
house arrest should be followed by the release of others detained for 
political reasons. There should be a mutual pledge of nonviolence, 
guarantees of noninterference in political campaigning by police and 
security forces, and a pledge to respect the people's mandate.
  The people of Bangladesh, who have suffered mightily and who have 
also risen to every challenge over the course of more than four 
decades, deserve better than to be caught between two stubborn 
matriarchs. New elections should be scheduled and Bangladeshi voters 
given a free and fair chance in determining their country's future.

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