Passage 1
The victory of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Bangladesh’s parliamentary election was all but guaranteed after the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), decided to stay away from the polls. The party’s leader, Khaleda Zia, is ailing and under house arrest on corruption charges, which her supporters claim to be politically motivated.
The government had rejected the BNP’s demand for a neutral authority to oversee the polls. Zia’s party has accused Haseena’s party of propping up dummy Opposition candidates and alleged that more than 20,000 BNP members were arrested in the run-up to elections. The government has disputed these allegations. But a barely 40 percent turnout in the polls — it was about 80 percent in 2018 — should be indication enough for the PM that she begins her fourth consecutive term in office in a deeply troubled political landscape.
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Hasina’s legacy has to a great extent been shaped by Bangladesh’s economic success in the last decade and a half, fueled by infrastructure, poverty alleviation, and energy projects. She has also dealt with militancy with a firm hand, often inviting accusations of high-handedness. Post-pandemic, however, the country has been hard hit by inflation.
Source – https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/express-view-on-bangladesh-elections-sheikh-hasina-again-9100774/
Passage 2
The U.S. has designated China, North Korea, and Pakistan as “Countries of Particular Concern” for engaging in and tolerating “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” Announcing the Religious Freedom Designations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that advancing the freedom of religion or belief has been a core objective of U.S. foreign policy ever since Congress passed and enacted the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998.
As part of that “enduring commitment”, Mr. Blinken said last week that he has designated Burma, China, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as “Countries of Particular Concern for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.” In addition, he designated Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam as Special Watch List countries for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.
Source- https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/us-designates-china-pakistan-and-north-korea-as-countries-of-particular-concern-for-severe-violations-of-religious-freedom/article67720277.ece
