Inside Operation of Regime Change in Bangladesh

 Operation PAIRS 

Inside story of Regime change operation in  Bangladesh. USA stared this operation in 2019

Operation was executed by International Republican Institute (IRI) which is part of US state dept NGO - NED. IRI have presence in Bangladesh since 2001. Operation was led by following people :

Donald Lu - Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs

Chris Murphy - Senator from Connecticut

Sumona Guha - US State dept, Policy Planning Staff. 

Sarah Margon - Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

Francisco Bencosme - Senior Advisor for the East Asian and Pacific Affairs bureau at the. Department of State.

Project was funded by NED and USAID.

March 2019

IRI received grant from USAID and NED.

IRI started Operation “Promoting Accountability, Inclusivity, and Resiliency Support Program” (PAIRS) to bring regime change in USA.

Strategy was to enhance the political participation of Bangladesh citizens and amplify anti-authoritarianism voices. IRI supported three civil societies, trained 77 activists and engaged 326 citizens to develop 43 specific policy demands, which were proposed before 65 government officials. Artist, Musicians and Performers were identified and 11 grants were made for them. Specific quantitative and qualitative research were carried out to identify Faultline of Bangladesh society. IRI supported socially conscious artists because they are an underutilized actor in a rapidly closing civic space. Since individual artists and activists are harder to suppress and can often reach a wider audience with their democratic and reformational messages. Marginalised communities were found out since they were non-threatening beneficiaries for whom the govt would support advocacy. Through these approaches, IRI’s program raised public awareness on social and political issues in Bangladesh and supported the public to challenge the status quo, which ultimately aims for power shift inside Bangladesh. Individuals were roped in for events, book launches, story-telling, photo exhibition, art exhibition, theatre performance, dance events, movie and documentary screenings, round table meet, advocacy training programs, some of which were based on exclusive invites, which was attended by the political officer and the consular officer from the US embassy, which as per their findings, impacted 400,000 Bangladesh nationals directly. If you see all these things in Indian context then you will understand why US embassy has been meeting diverse groups in India. All these things may look surprising for you but this is the way regime change operations are carried out by public participation.

Phase one of this project ended in Feb 2021

Feb 2021

NED released another $900,000 for second phase of regime change. In this phase

They enhanced marginalized voices, especially youth and women, within political debate and decision making. IRI also worked with representatives of the student wings on university campuses to improve their leadership skills. IRI also supported student cultural activists, including musicians, artists, and photographs. Round table discussions were organized between students. They were expecting regime change by end of 2022 but this target could not be achieved. There were two reasons- 

1. Digital Security Act 2018 of Sheikh Hasina

By using this act she somehow crushed the social media propaganda created by USA at larger extent

2. Hasina well managed covid

USA was expecting that covid would be jackpot and they would use public anger to remove her but  Bangladesh managed covid very well and much people didn't die and India also helped Bangladesh to recover from covid. 

Infect India was the main reason of this regime change. Sheikh Hasina was very much under influence of India particularly Narendra Modi govt. 

16th March 2024

National Democratic Institute (NDI), another Washington-based organization and the IRI’s Technical Assessment Mission (TAM) released a report on the 2024 national election which was won by Sheikh Hasina. The report claimed that the 2024 election period had less physical and online violence compared to previous election cycles. Quality of January election was undermined by increased political polarization, violence among political actors, contracting civic space, and worsening freedoms of expression and association. 

The third and final phase of regime change was launched from April 2024. IRI already had prepared ground for regime change by empowering civil societies and student leaders.

US supplied arms to resurgent groups via Bangkok. In may Donald Lu visited Dhaka via Bangkok. Meeting between opposition leader Tariq Rahman and Jamat e Islami and US regime change team happened at London.

Time of July was deliberately selected since this time there is always flood situation in Bangladesh and army remains busy in flood relief works. And rest of story you knows.

Bangladesh is a classical case study how on name of social interaction, by using non traditional way, by fostering civil society members you can bring regime change

US is exactly doing same things in India

Based on The Sunday Guardian report