How US May Have Plotted Sheikh Hasina's Ouster In Bangladesh

A leaked report submitted by the International Republican Institute to the US Department of State in 2020 points out that the Biden administration funded regime change operations in Bangladesh, against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The report is of projects between March 1, 2019 and Dec. 31, 2020 conducted by the IRI in Bangladesh.

Between April and May 2019, the IRI reports that their team in Bangladesh “identified over 170 democratic activists who would cooperate with IRI to destabilise Bangladesh’s politics.”

It also details how the IRI team worked with and funded artiste Towfique Ahmed to release his song ‘E Daay Khaar’. According to the report, the song was “designed to reveal social issues in Bangladesh and build up disappointment and even dissent to government, so as to call for social and political reforms.”

The report concludes by stating the real goal of the IRI. “If the public is more aware of current issues of government oppression, discrimination and shrinking space for political participation, THEN the Bangladeshi people will be more active to drive power shift through social and political reforms.”

This report of an agency funded by the Biden administration reveals the playbook of how to overthrow a government using people, artistes and activists.

The International Republican Institute was founded in 1983 under the National Endowment for Democracy. It currently has a US Senator on its Board, as well as several former White House secretaries and staff.

Although it is Republican in name, the institute claims it has no political affiliations. In the FAQ section on its website, it states, "...IRI is a non-partisan organisation, not affiliated with any political party.”

Most interesting of all is who funds this Institute. The IRI is primarily funded by grants from the US State Department, USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy, or NED.

The NED is an NGO that is funded generously, "largely by the US Congress.”

Work to topple the Hasina government had begun four years before the actual event. A perusal of the report shows that the IRI team conducted interviews with “informants” at the village level, in districts like Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Khulna and Chittagong.

They then “identified over 170 democratic activists who would cooperate with IRI to destabilise Bangladesh’s politics.”

The “theory of change” as touted by the IRI is to identify and bring marginalised communities together and train them into becoming agents of regime change. To this end, they targeted the Bihari community, Dalits, the LGBTQ+ community and small ethnic groups from the plains.

The Bihari community as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Bangladesh were targeted with workshops, cultural events and various social activities to spread the IRI’s message. Bihari rights activists were then invited to participate in workshops that covered “topics including rights, advocacy, citizenship, communication and participatory action research.”

Next, artiste Towfique Ahmed was paid to compose and release two songs — one called 'Tui Parish' (You Can Do It), which “targets youth with a message of perseverance in difficult times and encourages those who are committed to strengthen democracy in Bangladesh in every possible way including protests and street movements.”

The other paid song was 'E Daay Kaar', which spoke of a “variety of social issues in Bangladesh, including rape, poverty and workers’ rights. The song was designed to reveal social issues in Bangladesh and build up disappointment and even dissent to government, so as to call for social and political reforms.”

Bringing celebrities, activists and citizens together and organising a space for them to interact with politicians and MPs of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party rounded off the efforts of the IRI in pushing the Biden administration’s agenda forward, reveals the report.

Cultural performances and documentaries pushing the US agenda for regime change were aired on national television and on YouTube and other social media platforms. For example, “Mrittikay Mohakal broadcast 11 episodes of its 'Let the Light Come' program on Facebook and YouTube. The final episode was taped lived before an auditorium audience. The episodes featured a variety of themes on religious harmony, social tolerance, gender empowerment and nonviolence, performed by 51 different actors, singers and musicians.” Close to 4 lakh Bangladesh residents cumulatively viewed the various events on television, social media, YouTube and in-person, as estimated by the report.

Photography exhibits and art shows, according to the report, achieved their objectives. “Visitors’ response supported the goal of IRI’s program to drive power shift in Bangladesh through social and political reforms.” The IRI identified, funded and provided legitimacy to activists like Khadija Ria, who in turn mentored others.

Artistes from abroad, too, shared their playbooks for dissent, with the Bangladeshis at workshops organised by the IRI. One example is telling. “Jake Oorlof, a theatre practitioner based in Sri Lanka, shared his personal experience with rising censorship laws during his country’s civil war and detailed how he used the medium of theatre to openly critique closing space for creative and political expression; shift the conversation about how to memorialise the experience of war; and create space to build up resistance against political oppression.”

The LGBTQ+ and the Dalit community was roped in and involved in workshops on advocacy, according to the report. “IRI and Bandhu organised an advocacy training for Bandhu staff and other LGBTI activists. The training was facilitated by Jean Freedberg from the Human Rights Campaign. The participants learned about international human rights mechanisms and building international advocacy networks.”

Ethnic groups from the plainlands were also in the IRI’s target groups. Activists and NGOs, such as PRIP Trust, brought in vocal members of these ethnic communities from Saidpur, Dinajpur, Rajshahi and Netrokona for workshops on advocacy.

PRIP stands for Private Rural Initiative Program. In 1988, USAID funded Pact, an American NGO to the tune of $5 million to create NGOs in Bangladesh. Four years later, in 1992, funding was increased to $11 million and Pact was tasked with creating an indigenous NGO, which would sustain itself. Subsequently, in 1995, USAID helped PRIP Bangladesh to find donors and grants from outside of Bangladesh.

This report may only be the tip of the iceberg. It can be one of many organisations that worked on ground in Bangladesh over many years, to systematically work towards changing the Hasina regime in Bangladesh.

Their efforts ended in violence, murder and pillage and Muhammad Yunus, himself a recipient of generous donations from Soros’ Open Society Foundation, emerged as the face of the new regime in our neighbouring state.