Bangladesh has reacted with shock but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina appeared defiant after US sanctions against seven of her top law-enforcement officials, saying her country was strong enough to defend its sovereignty. " Our Armed Forces can defend the nation against any foreign foe," Hasina told a passing-out parade of a new batch of army officers on Sunday.

On Friday, the US issued sanctions against 15 security officials and 10 entities of several nations on grounds of their involvement in serious human rights violations like extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances. Among them were seven of Bangladesh's most high-level officials who were placed under Global Magnitsky human rights-related sanctions by the US Department of Treasury. 

Leading the list is the current Bangladesh police chief and former director-general of Rapid Action Battalion ( RAB)  Benazir Ahmed, followed by the current RAB director-general Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, ADG (Operations) Khan Mohammad Azad, former ADG (Operations) Tofayel Mustafa Sorwar, Mohammad Jahangir Alam, and Mohammad Anwar Latif Khan.

Benazir and a former official of RAB Lieutenant Colonel Miftah Uddin Ahmed have also been barred from travelling to the US. Former Bangladesh army chief General Aziz Ahmed's visa to US has also been cancelled for alleged involvement with corrupt deals .

“We are determined to put human rights at the centre of our foreign policy, and we reaffirm this commitment by using appropriate tools and authorities to draw attention to and promote accountability for human rights violations and abuses,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken to justify the move.

Several European envoys in Dhaka called for "efforts to maintain human rights" in an oblique reference to growing violations like forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen summoned US ambassador  Earl Miller “to convey Dhaka’s discontent” over the decision.  Momen  “regretted that the US decided to undermine an agency of the government that had been on the forefront of combating terrorism, drug trafficking and other heinous transnational crimes that were considered to be shared priorities with successive US administrations”. 

One of the sanctioned individuals, RAB deputy chief KM Azad, defended the force’s operations, saying it never violates human rights. 

“If bringing down a criminal under the law is a violation of human rights, then we have no objection to violating this human rights in the interest of the country,” he said.

Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan also commented on the move, saying: “The US has not imposed the sanctions fairly. They did it based on exaggerated news.

Maintaining law and order is a challenging task in Bangladesh,” he added, “Drug peddlers use firearms for self-defence that leads to gunfights with the members of law enforcement agencies, causing casualties,” he said.

Bangladesh has been fuming since the Biden administration did not invite the country to the recent Democracy Summit held virtually. " Roger Duterte (Philippines' president) who boasts of extrajudicial executions is a democrat and  PM Hasina is an autocrat by US categorisation. What a joke this is," said Sukharanjan Dasgupta, author on Bangladesh.

" The US has historically promoted many dictatorships in pursuit of its strategic goals, during the Cold War and after. South Korea, South Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan -- the list is long. Closer home, American intelligence has backed ruthless bloodthirsty dictators from Nicaragua to Chile in the battle against Communism," Dasgupta told The Diplomat. Both Philippes and Pakistan were invited to the summit, though Pakistani later declined the invitation, apparently on Chinese pressure. 

Bangladesh, celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence, loves showcasing its impressive economic and human development progress that has taken it way past
Pakistan, from which it emerged after a bloody eight-month-long civil war.

It claims three million Bengalis were killed by the Pakistan Army and a quarter of a million women were dishonoured during those 8 months in 1971.

" To be ranked behind Pakistan in the democracy index upsets us very much. The US has deliberately insulted us by inviting Pakistan and not us, " says Bangladesh's ruling Awami League leader Aysha Zaman Shimu.

Former junior Information Minister Tarana Halim suspects deeper US motives behind the sanctions and not inviting Bangladesh to the Democracy Summit.

"The US opposed our independence struggle and backed Pakistan's brutal military junta in 1971. Their intelligence triggered the coup in 1975 that brought down our first government. Now they want to topple our government again," Halim told The Diplomat.

A Bangladesh National Security Committee member, on condition of anonymity, said the US sanctions will demoralise the security forces who have resorted to some "real tough policing" to tackle Islamist radicals and terrorists. 

" Does the US wants our forces to back off from hitting hard at the Islamist radicals? Do they want a repeat of Afghanistan here," he said, but wishing not be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media. 

Hasina has been branded pro-China by US officials but her government reacted strongly to a Chinese warning in April against Bangladesh joining the four-nation Quad grouping  (US, India, Japan Australia). 

" We are a sovereign and independent nation, " Foreign Minister A K A Momen said after China's Dhaka envoy warned of "serious bilateral implications" if Bangladesh joined the Quad.

American South Asia watchers say the US policy could be counter-productive. " Too much US pressure can only drive Bangladesh towards China," said Michael Kugelman of the Wilson Center.(SAM)