Are Foreign diplomats in Bangladesh playing roles like internal political activists?
– -Pathik Hasan is a Dhaka based security and strategic affairs analyst
Foreign diplomats become active when the election time approaches. Their activity becomes like a political party. While the ruling party protested this breach of etiquette, the opposition parties rightly took their word for it. Sometimes prompting them to be more active. They are also seen going to the embassy and paying some things.
Analysts say that according to the Vienna Convention friendly relations are developed between different countries by following certain rules. which is universal. But various influential countries ignore these rules. The activities of the diplomats of these countries involve interference in the internal affairs of a country. It is a question to the activist diplomats – people are being killed in America every now and then. Do they ever make statements? Has the United Nations ever issued a statement? Why do people die in America? A Bangladeshi boy named Faisal was killed in Cambridge, did they say how far the boy’s investigation has gone? Or have the ambassadors teamed up to make a statement? Why don’t you ask them?’
Diplomats in Bangladesh are not paying attention to the Vienna Convention
The activities being carried out by the diplomats of different countries in Bangladesh do not fall under the Vienna Convention. Their activities are not within the Vienna Convention. They do not follow any convention in their activities in Bangladesh. There is an embassy of Bangladesh where the movement is going on in France. But they did not make any statement. I don’t understand one thing, how many people have lost their lives, how many people have been arrested, what is the dire situation, there is no statement from any embassy. We have never made any statement on their internal affairs. Even the US and European embassies have not made any statement on the French incident.
But why this is happening in the case of Bangladesh, we dance on their (foreign diplomats) heads. It is our fault that they dare to do these things. for us We have destroyed our own self-respect. They have no personality. Politicians have destroyed the dignity of our country. We felt extremely bad after seeing these things and “How dare they do these things?” They make statements as if our country runs under them. Today, if we were a strong country like the United States, they would not have dared to do these things. The activities of foreign diplomats in Bangladesh are clearly a violation of the Vienna Convention. Diplomats have no place for activism. In any country in the world, they cannot and do not use it like this. Maybe they do in Africa, I don’t know for sure. Earlier they colonized there, plundered. White Europeans looted Africa. Even if they cannot loot now, they want to show that they are better than us. what foreign diplomats are doing or saying here, they should not. We are very cautious and DIPLOMATS have not taken inconsideration OF MORAL OBLIGATION OF MAINTING THE POLICY oof ‘noninterference’ And this is the primary mistake. They should not be allowed to do this.
What the Vienna Convention says
But not only the last election, but foreign diplomats are seen to be active when there is a political crisis in Bangladesh. The government party did not pay much attention to these activities. But the opposition has always been supportive. Section 1 of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention states that persons who enjoy diplomatic status and privileges in another country shall be bound by the laws and policies of that country. Besides, they cannot interfere in any internal affairs of that country.
This section has two more sub-sections. For example, it is stated in subsection number two of the article, all types of office work of diplomats, which the sending country will assign to the diplomatic mission, must be done through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the receiving country or related ministries. And in subsection number three, diplomats cannot use the premises of their mission office for any purpose not related to their activities. The agreement further states that diplomatic relations shall be based on mutual consent between the countries. In addition, one of the most important clauses of the Vienna Convention, or Article 9, states that any country can declare a diplomat of another country employed in that country as ‘persona non grata’ or inadmissible without giving any reason. The diplomat can be declared inadmissible before he reaches the country concerned. Any person serving in a country’s diplomatic mission, including the head of that mission, can be declared inadmissible. In this case, the sending country will either dismiss or withdraw the appointed diplomat. If the country fails to withdraw its diplomat in due time, the receiving country can deny the diplomat its special status and security.
Romim Uddin Ahmed and Faisal’s assassination and the politics of human rights
In the early hours of Wednesday, criminals in the Missouri state of the United States of America (USA) shot and killed Romim Uddin Ahmed, a Bangladeshi man. On December 4, Bangladeshi student Syed Faisal Arif was shot dead by the police in Boston, USA. In this incident, new questions have been raised about the country’s human rights situation. In the country which is concerned about the human rights of different countries of the world, and imposes various restrictions as a punishment, innocent people are being killed by the police in that country; But there is no trial for him. Every year in the United States, an average of 1,000 people lose their lives at the hands of the police.” This is Washington Post news, not mine. So, when their own country is in such a situation, how can they say that Bangladesh does not have human rights. why the number of police brutality in Bangladesh is so high, it is not even close to it. Just one or two makes a big stir. But every year in the United States, thousands of people are victims of gun violence. because there are not so many barriers to obtaining a gun permit in the US, people are easily killed there. Recently, a six-year-old child shot and killed a teacher. 98.1 percent of those killed by the police in the country do not face any trial. No one has to stand in court for this. Apart from the number of people who are dying on average, thousands of people are being murdered and murdered.
‘Would the United States allow meddling in internal affairs?’
No country in the world is completely accurate. But will the United States allow diplomats from other countries to comment on their internal affairs?’. diplomats are able to speak because of this; As they are being given a platform. They are holding a press conference of their own accord, not like that. They are speaking because they are given the opportunity. It may also be that the politics of this division serves their interests. the opposition party also went to the elections with the blessings of foreigners. So, their interference has increased unexpectedly. We saw in 2018 when Barnicutt said, BNP should participate in elections without a caretaker government; Then BNP went to the election. The issue of political fuel in the unethical speech of the diplomats cannot be completely ruled out. But a diplomat has to carry out his activities outside the country according to the Vienna Convention even if he has political motivation. We invite them to different places, when they meet the leaders of the government and opposition parties, it is also promoted. Our people are more interested in this campaign than diplomats. For these reasons, we ourselves cannot avoid responsibility. when diplomats work in different countries, they work silently. when they (diplomats) meet a political leader in different countries, it is not publicized. Because it is their routine work. But we bring them into the campaign for our own sake. when ambassadors meet political leaders in India, there is no news. we think that diplomats should comment more consciously when there are questions about the internal affairs of other countries.
Pathik Hasan <pathikhasan1141@gmail.com>
