Commentary: People power has won in Bangladesh, for now

The good times did n’t last. A combination of the epidemic and financial&nbsp, mismanagement&nbsp, took their toll on the emerging market, and two years ago it reached out to the International Monetary Fund and other foreign creditors to reduce decline.

It’s the&nbsp, third country &nbsp, in the region, after Sri Lanka and Pakistan, forced to knock on the International Monetary Fund’s ( IMF) &nbsp, door in recent times. All the&nbsp, volatility is adding to uncertainty in South Asia.

Not just the financial situation was the problem. The political protests over the last quarter have been a lightning rod for a wide range of problems from severe poverty to a failing private sector, Lutfey Siddiqi, visiting professor&nbsp, at the London School of Economics ‘&nbsp, international coverage think tank, told me.

” There’s also anger at the sheer lack of empathy and condescension with which Hasina has &nbsp, responded to those worries”, he said.

Despair WITH HASINA’S Federal

The prime minister ‘s&nbsp, ruling Awami League has most recently&nbsp, been in authority since&nbsp, 2009, but elections have &nbsp, been often boycotted by the opposition, and widely&nbsp, condemned&nbsp, as being poorly free and fair.

She capitalised on&nbsp, a storied legacy&nbsp, as the daughter of Sheikh&nbsp, Mujibur&nbsp, Rahman, Bangladesh’s foundation parents, going on to become the world’s longest-serving sexual president, but in recent years has clamped down on media freedom&nbsp, and quashed&nbsp, public debate. The incompetence of the economy simply exacerbated the issues. &nbsp,