There are serious concerns in the US growing extremism in Bangladesh, said a former White House official Thursday, observing that deposed former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina did a good job controlling it.
Lisa Curtis, who served as President-elect Donald Trump's South Asia point-person in his first term, said there's concern about the future and what that brings to Bangladesh.
"We are at a critical juncture in Bangladesh. With the overthrow of Sheikh Hasina and efforts to reform the political system, there is much hope. People are hopeful that the democratic process will get stronger," she said on Thursday.
It was overthrown on August 5 by the mass upsurge emerging from a quota reform campaign by the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement in an era of crisis for the regime led by Hasina. Three days later, Nobel laureate Muhammad took charge of chief adviser to the caretaker government.
"But there's also a lot of concern. Some Islamist extremists have been released from jails. There have been some attacks on minorities, Hindus, Christians," Curtis, who served as National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021, told PTI in an interview.
"We have a history of terrorism in Bangladesh. You had the Holy (Artisan) Bakery attacks in 2016. Very serious incident. You had some ISIS (Islamic State) elements in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina had done a good job of controlling the extremist problem in Bangladesh," said Curtis.
"There is understandably some concern that these elements return to the political scene, which would not be helpful for Bangladesh, she said.".
"It would not be helpful for the region, the United States, anyone. We are at a delicate time in Bangladesh. So even though it might not be the number one priority of (President-elect) Trump, I think his team, his national security team, will have to pay attention to what's happening (there)," she said.
But Curtis did say that a new government should align with India, another country that shares the anxiety of the future course that Bangladesh is going to take and which has far more at stake about whatever is being played out.
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