This week, Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected a decision by the country’s Election Commission to delay elections in two provinces, describing it as unconstitutional. It rescheduled elections in Punjab for May 14; Pakistan’s Constitution stipulates that elections must happen within 90 days after an assembly is dissolved, and Punjab’s legislature was dissolved in January. However, the government in Islamabad, led by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has already signaled it may not respect the Supreme Court ruling. As a result, a decision meant to reinforce the rule of law could instead trigger a new phase in the country’s ongoing political crisis.
HONOLULU (March 15, 2023) --- Last month marked the second anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar that has resulted in the country's devastating civil war, with the military arresting more than 20,000 anti-coup protestors, killing more than 3,000, and burning 55,000 houses and buildings to date.
This week, the IMF formally approved a stabilization package for Bangladesh valued at $4.7 billion. The package is the first given to an Asian country that includes funding from the IMF’s new Resilience and Sustainability Facility, intended to help vulnerable middle-income countries. Bangladesh’s package comes as its neighbors Pakistan and Sri Lanka—under worse economic stress—have struggled to secure new assistance.
Every country has a philosopher or leader who has led both nation-building and state-building efforts. For example, Deng Xiaoping is treated as the "architect of modern China," Mahathir Mohammad is treated as a changemaker of modern Malaysia, and simultaneously President Ziaur Rahman is treated as a reformer and shaper of contemporary Bangladesh.
The Russian embassy in Bangladesh has issued a statement on 20 December in support of the current fascist regime in Dhaka. Couched in diplomatic terms, the statement is highly critical of the recent US effort to push the government of Bangladesh to accept the popular demand for a free, fair and inclusive election. The statement praises the Sheikh Hasina government, “States like Bangladesh, which shape their foreign and internal policy to serve their own national interests instead of following the lead of external powers, take a similar approach”.
Voice of American Muslim
©Muslim News Network 2023. All rights reserved.
