AL not concerned over US sanction on former army chief

The ruling Awami League doesn’t want to attach much importance to the sanction imposed on former army chief general (rtd) Aziz Ahmed by the US.

The leaders of the party feel that the government is quite stable after the national parliamentary elections held on 7 January. In this context, sanction against a former army chief won’t have any impact on the government.

This correspondent spoke to two ruling party leaders at the policymaking level and a member of the cabinet over this. They believe there must be some political aspects behind this move by the US. However, the government has nothing to worry about. Rhere was even no discussion within the party or the government over this. It would have some impact on the bureaucrats had it come before the polls.

Reliable leaders are even saying that there were already reports on Aziz Ahmed’s visa being cancelled by the US before the 7 January polls. The US just made the official announcement and included his family members this time. So there is no need to see this as a sudden US initiative. Besides, the sanction on Aziz Ahmed didn’t come as part of the new US visa policy for Bangladeshis declared ahead of the 12th national parliamentary elections. 

AL general secretary Obaidul Quader held a press conference at the political office of the party president in the capital’s Dhanmondi on Tuesday afternoon. Speaking regarding the US sanction, Obaidul Quader said, “As said by our foreign ministry, the Bangladesh mission in Washington was informed prior to the announcement.  The actions taken against general Aziz is not the implementation of the visa policy. Rather, it’s the implementation of the Appropriation Act. I don’t want to say anything else regarding this.”

However, according to some of the policymakers of the ruling party, it’s hard to assume the US stance.  It would be wrong to presume that all the tensions between the governments of the two countries have been solved.

Although this was not the implementation of the visa policy, it came within a week of US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu’s visit to Bangladesh, which indicates some political aspects behind the move. So the government needs to be careful, they say.

Notably, the announcement of the visa policy came after the visit of a US delegation before the national polls. The US delegation highlighted the good relations with the government of Bangladesh. The announcement of the visa policy came after that.

This time, the US Assistant Secretary Of State for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu stressed on normalising the relations between the two countries. However, the announcement of the sanction on former army chief Aziz Ahmed came within a week of Donald Lu’s visit.

So a section of Awami League leaders believe the US hasn’t changed their stance or hasn’t moved away from their plan no matter what they are saying.

Some of the ruling party leaders are saying that the ban on former army chief Aziz Ahmed may have come as a response to Bangladesh’s attitude towards the US.