In 1999, the population of Bangladesh was estimated to be around 131 million people. The economy of Bangladesh was largely based on agriculture, with the main exports being jute and tea. Its foreign relations were mainly with South Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Politically, Bangladesh in 1999 was a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy. The Prime Minister was Sheikh Hasina Wajed and her Awami League party had a majority in Parliament. The President was Shahabuddin Ahmed and served as head of state. See ethnicityology for Bangladesh in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
Bangladesh. The political confrontation climate that Bangladesh has lived with for many years continued. The opposition conducted a series of demonstrations and strikes, which led to severe unrest. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Bangladesh. The motives for the actions varied; several strikes demanded that the electoral commission chairman must resign, at other times the resignation of the government was demanded, again other protests were about India’s right to transit goods through Bangladesh, which the opposition feared would be used to smuggle weapons to separatists.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of BGD which stands for Bangladesh and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
Foreign lenders, who have already expressed concern that instability threatens both investment and development projects, sharpened the tone. In September, they threatened to reduce their support unless economic and political reforms were accelerated. According to the aid countries, corruption and inefficiencies cause the state to lose the equivalent of $ 1.5 billion in missing taxes each year, as much as the total aid. The donors also criticized human rights violations, in particular the forced eviction of 50,000 residents in a slum in Dhaka in August.
The writer Taslima Nasrin, who returned from the country’s escape in 1998, was forced to leave the country again after new death threats from Islamic fundamentalists.
UN Children’s Fund UNICEF reported that there are at least 6.3 million child workers under the age of 14 in Bangladesh. The children work mainly as maids, farm workers or rickshaws. According to the Government of Bangladesh, the goal is to wipe out child labor by 2005.
After the election, the opposition attacked Hindu temples all over the country and thousands of Hindus were displaced. Hasina defended herself by declaring that she had offered Zia to join a national unity government to resolve the conflict, but Zia had declined. UN Ban Ki-Moon criticized both parties and urged them to enter into negotiations to secure an inclusive political process in the country.
In early January 2015, the opposition again conducted demonstrations against the government on the anniversary of the 2014 elections. The government again responded with arrests. BNP woman Khaleda Zia was de-facto arrested on January 3 and BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamghir arrested on January 6 when he left the Dakha Press Club accused of organizing opposition demonstrations the day before, costing several people’s lives when it came to clashes between protesters and security forces.
In 2016, the religious militant groups Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Ansar al-Islam linked to IS and al-Qaeda carried out numerous attacks against foreigners, religious minorities and LGBT persons. A total of 32 were killed. The bloodiest attack took place in July, when JMB stormed a restaurant in Dakha, killing 22 – 18 of them foreigners. Authorities struck violently again, arresting over 15,000. Human rights organizations pointed out that the authorities used the opportunity to imprison a host of other human rights and political activists. In the weeks following the restaurant massacre, police shot and killed 45 people, identified by authorities as “terrorists.”
The authorities also stepped up the fight against freedom of expression. In February, it sued the editor-in-chief of the Daily Star newspaper, Mahfuz Anam, for more than 80 cases of “slander”. The persecution of the authorities was particularly directed at people who in the media or on the Internet had criticized Prime Minister Hasina or the Awami League. During the year, the police introduced new methods to journalists, activists and opposition. They were unmotivated shot in the knees or in the legs during demonstrations or subsequently at a police station. The purpose was to take the critics of the regime out of circulation for a long period.
