Dhaka, Jan 18: Bangladesh’s Law Advisor Asif Nazrul on Sunday admitted that establishing the rule of law remains the biggest challenge in the country. However, he noted that significant progress has been made in that direction, local media reported.
Nazrul cautioned that achieving lasting success would be difficult without sincerity and commitment for the government, which will be elected following the general election set to be held in Bangladesh on February 12, United News of Bangladesh reported.
He said, “Some people say no reforms have been made. However, in such a short time, there has never been such a significant amount of reform in the history of Bangladesh.”
Asif Nazrul made the remarks at the policy dialogue titled ‘Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law’ organised by the Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) at the CIRDAP (Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific) auditorium in Dhaka.
Ahead of elections in Bangladesh, attacks on women, girls, and religious minorities continue to rise, exposing the failure of the interim government headed by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus to protect basic fundamental human rights of the country’s citizens.
Citing police data, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently highlighted that gender-based violence has increased between January and June 2025, in comparison to the same timeframe in 2024.
“Dr Fauzia Moslem, President of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (Women’s Council of Bangladesh or BMP), attributes this increase to a rise in activity and rhetoric by religious groups seeking to restrict women’s free movement and participation in society. In May 2025, hardline religious groups protested the interim government’s efforts to improve gender equality and women’s rights and demanded an end to activities they deemed ‘anti-Islamic’. Since then, women and girls have experienced verbal, physical, and digital abuse that further silences their ability to speak out for fear of violence,” wrote Subhajit Saha, a Senior Coordinator in HRW’s Women’s Rights Division.
The General Election on February 12 will be the first that the country will witness since the exit of a democratically elected government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
The HRW report also detailed how attacks on Hindu and ethnic minorities have increased in recent months.
“In December, Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old garment worker, was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy. Rights groups have reported at least 51 incidents of violence against Hindus, including 10 killings. Ethnic minorities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts continued to face abuse from security forces after the revolution,” wrote Saha.
“Despite Bangladesh previously having two women Prime Ministers and many women participating in the 2024 student-led protests, women are still largely denied political participation. In the upcoming general elections, 30 out of the 51 political parties do not have any women candidates. Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist political group and one of Bangladesh’s two leading political parties, does not have a single woman candidate among its 276 nominations,” he added.
Terming it a “matter of shame”, several reports have stated that the February election will see the lowest-ever participation of women candidates in Bangladesh elections.
–IANS