Bangladesh's Fracture
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BANGLADESH’S FRACTURE: POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 30, 2015 Serial No. 114–46 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 94–391PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:08 Jul 09, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\_AP\043015\94391 SHIRL COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida TED POE, Texas BRIAN HIGGINS, New York MATT SALMON, Arizona KAREN BASS, California DARRELL E. ISSA, California WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN GRAYSON, Florida MO BROOKS, Alabama AMI BERA, California PAUL COOK, California ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California RANDY K. WEBER SR., Texas GRACE MENG, New York SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania LOIS FRANKEL, Florida RON DESANTIS, Florida TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas TED S. YOHO, Florida ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois CURT CLAWSON, Florida BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee REID J. RIBBLE, Wisconsin DAVID A. TROTT, Michigan LEE M. ZELDIN, New York TOM EMMER, Minnesota AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC MATT SALMON, Arizona Chairman DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRAD SHERMAN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio AMI BERA, California TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina ALAN S. LOWENTHAL, California MO BROOKS, Alabama GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania GRACE MENG, New York SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:08 Jul 09, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AP\043015\94391 SHIRL C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES Ms. Lisa Curtis, senior research fellow, Asian Studies Center, The Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, The Heritage Founda- tion ........................................................................................................................ 5 Mr. Ali Riaz, Ph.D., professor, Department of Politics and Government Chair, Illinois State University ...................................................................................... 16 Mr. Jay Kansara, director, Government Relations, Hindu American Founda- tion ........................................................................................................................ 32 Mr. Steven D. Fleischli, president, U.S.-Bangladesh Trade and Relations As- sociation ................................................................................................................ 42 Alyssa Ayres, Ph.D., senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia, Coun- cil on Foreign Relations ....................................................................................... 51 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Ms. Lisa Curtis: Prepared statement ..................................................................... 7 Mr. Ali Riaz, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ............................................................... 18 Mr. Jay Kansara: Prepared statement .................................................................. 35 Mr. Steven D. Fleischli: Prepared statement ........................................................ 45 Alyssa Ayres, Ph.D.: Prepared statement .............................................................. 54 APPENDIX Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 78 Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 79 The Honorable Gerald E. Connolly, a Representative in Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia: Prepared statement .............................................. 80 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:08 Jul 09, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AP\043015\94391 SHIRL VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:08 Jul 09, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 F:\WORK\_AP\043015\94391 SHIRL BANGLADESH’S FRACTURE: POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2015 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2 o’clock p.m., in room 2255 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Matt Salmon (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. SALMON. Good afternoon. The subcommittee will come to order. We often speak of the rebalance or pivot to Asia solely in terms of the large nations such as China and India. But today we are going to turn our attention to Bangladesh, a nation that may be discussed less often than its larger neighbors but is nevertheless significant to our increased engagement in the region. Today, we are going to discuss why it is critical that we keep a close eye on Bangladesh and why Bangladesh’s security has signifi- cant bearing on regional security, thus on our efforts to rebalance. But first, I would like to take a moment of silence for those whose lives were lost and destroyed in the tragic earthquake this past weekend, affecting so many in the nations of Nepal, India as well as Bangladesh. Thank you. Okay. Bangladesh does have a unique story, a very inspirational one. A moderate voice in the Islamic world that is home to 166 million people with a Muslim majority, all within a geographic space the size of Iowa. While roughly 80 percent of the population lives on less than $2 a day, we recognize the earnest advances that the country has made with consistent GDP growth averaging 6.2 percent over the last decade, something that we would love to have right now. Bangladesh’s fractious democracy is dominated by two competing political factions—the Awami League, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, currently in power, and Bangladesh National Party, or BMP, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. These powerful leaders rule their parties like fiefdoms and cor- ruption continues to be a major issue. Tensions between the two parties has often been high but since the most recent parliamen- tary elections in 2014 the escalation of violence between the two sides has been especially appalling. (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 17:08 Jul 09, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_AP\043015\94391 SHIRL 2 Polarization between Awami League and BMP has reached new levels and politically motivated attacks have begun to target every- day people, including commuters and students. We have seen assaults on journalists and horrific firebomb at- tacks on buses. Today, I hope to hear from our distinguished panel- ists about the violence committed by both parties to draw attention to this issue and make clear our state of disdain for the use of any type of violence as a means to convey a political message. Both parties should know that democracy requires more than just lip service. If Bangladesh wants to refer to its own political system as a democracy it must be a democracy in substance. But since the Awami League took power in January 2009, signifi- cant changes to the electoral process were made including the re- moval of independent and neutral caretaker government during elections. This led to the boycott of the 2014 elections by the BMP and sparked the current spates of violence that we are seeing today. As it now stands, Bangladesh is in the midst of a serious political se- curity crisis. Just this past Tuesday, the BMP once again boycotted elections, this time at the municipal level citing polling irregularities. The U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh echoes our concerns saying, we are disappointed by widespread, first-hand and credible reports of vote rigging, intimidation and violence. Incidents like this may lead to a further break down of order that could open space for Islamic militants or could force the mili- tary to take control once again. Today, we will discuss both political and religious extremism. To be sure, there are links to draw between them. However, it is also important to distinguish between the actions attributable to polit- ical and religious violence. Bangladesh has been a security partner in the combat against extremist terrorist groups as they currently have eight or more major Islamic extremist groups within their borders, many with ties to international terrorist networks. In addition to tackling terrorism through law enforcement, Ban- gladesh also uses strategic communication to counter violent extre- mism especially among youth through Madrassas and other reli- gious institutions. Bangladesh is a current partner and a key partner in the strug- gle against Islamic extremism and we hope to continue this collec- tive effort with Bangladesh and other