UK MPs Retract Bangladesh Report Citing Concerns Over Bias

All-party parliamentary group withdraws report following accusations of bias and factual inaccuracies.

A report on Bangladesh, initially issued by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the Commonwealth, has been withdrawn due to complaints about its perceived bias in favor of the previous government led by Sheikh Hasina.

The report, which was released in November, faced significant criticism for its alleged inaccuracies.

The report came under scrutiny after a Labour MP raised concerns in the House of Commons, prompting the APPG to put the document 'under review.' A spokesperson for the group stated that the report is an 'internal document under review' and has been shared with the Foreign Office as part of the group's 'broader deliberative process.' The APPG emphasized that it would not be distributing the report further, nor pursuing follow-ups.

Controversy also arose when Tulip Siddiq, a niece of Sheikh Hasina, resigned from her position as City minister due to undisclosed ties to the Awami League, which led to claims that the party was exerting influence on British politics.

The report, titled 'The Ongoing Situation in Bangladesh,' was initially released to the press three months following Hasina's removal from power by a student-led movement.

This event resulted in a violent crackdown by security forces, leading to approximately 1,000 deaths.

The document criticized Muhammad Yunus, Hasina's successor and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, accusing his administration of using the law politically and empowering hardline Islamists.

Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative chair of the APPG, noted in a press release accompanying the report that Bangladesh's future should prioritize impartial opportunities rather than benefit supporters of the regime in power.

He warned that unless changes were made, international goodwill towards the new government might diminish.

The report's allegations included claims of political weaponization of the law and cited data from the Rights & Risk Analysis Group, a think tank based in New Delhi.

It also accused the interim government of charging 194,000 individuals with crimes, although experts argue this figure more likely pertains to the number of names listed in police records related to potential crimes.

The report's conclusions were challenged by experts who revealed discrepancies in the data.

For instance, it cited a lower-than-expected number of deaths and claimed these occurred after Hasina's departure, contrary to UN findings attributing most casualties to actions by security forces during her tenure.

Critics like Rupa Huq, a Labour MP, have dismissed the report as biased, and Professor Naomi Hossain from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London criticized the document for basic errors that a superficial knowledge of Bangladesh would prevent.

Going forward, the APPG plans to focus exclusively on issues relating to the Commonwealth of Nations and will no longer produce country-specific reports.