US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's announcement to withhold visas from individuals "responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process" in Bangladesh is hardly conducive to the promotion of this aim, says Professor Emeritus of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, Brahma Chellaney.

"If anything, it is likely to prove counterproductive," he wrote in an article published by Nikkei Asia on Monday.

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Chellaney is a former adviser to India's National Security Council, and has authored nine books, including "Water: Asia's New Battleground".

US President Joe Biden’s administration “has made Bangladesh a focus of its democracy promotion efforts by dangling the threat of visa sanctions against officials who undermine free elections while staying silent on the undeclared martial law situation in Pakistan, where mass arrests, disappearances and torture have become political weapons,” writes the professor.

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"The short answer is that US promotion of democratic rights has long been selective, with geopolitical considerations often dominant. The pursuit of moral legitimacy for the cause of democracy promotion has also contributed to making sanctions the tool of choice for US policymakers," Prof Chellaney says.

In the case of Bangladesh, he thinks, the Biden administration is seeking to leverage two other factors: that close relatives of many Bangladeshi politicians live in the US or Britain, including Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son who holds an American green card; and that the bulk of Bangladesh's exports go to the West, with the US being the top destination.

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"In fact, bullying the world's seventh-most populous country, far from helping to promote a free and fair election, is more likely to revive painful memories of how the US looked the other way in 1971 as the Pakistani military brutally resisted Bangladesh's efforts to achieve independence from Islamabad, slaughtering up to 3 million people. What is Washington really after now?" — the professor questions.

Bangladesh's impressive growth trajectory stands in stark contrast to the chronic political and economic turmoil seen in Pakistan, which today is teetering on the brink of default. Yet while Bangladesh was excluded from the Summits for Democracy convened in 2021 and earlier this year by Biden, Pakistan was invited both times though it did not attend either, the article reads.

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While continuing to reward Pakistan by prioritizing short-term geopolitical considerations, the Biden administration has been criticizing democratic backsliding in Bangladesh.

Blinken's wielding of the “visa-sanctions stick” is clearly aimed at members of PM Hasina's government, including law enforcement and other security officials, although the announcement of the new policy also mentioned members of opposition parties, Prof Chellaney writes.

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"But sanctioning foreign officials usually serves no more than a symbolic purpose while hampering diplomacy. It can also have unintended consequences," he adds.

The professor observed that the new hardline towards Dhaka makes little sense. "The Hasina government could be a significant partner in the US war on terror and in improving Asian security. Instead, bilateral relations are under strain. No one from the Biden administration even met with Hasina when she visited Washington last month for discussions with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund."

"While in Singapore this month, (US Defense Secretary Lloyd) Austin declared that America ‘will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion’ from China. But bullying and coercion are also unlikely to advance US interests in Bangladesh," the article reads.

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