Abstract
This study highlights various totalitarian and undemocratic practices in which Bangladeshs current Awami League-led coalition regime engages. It shows that since its inception in early 2009, the regime has tried to mobilize and manipulate public support from within throughamong other meanscreating the discourse of war crimes and to obtain international support through the discourse of Islamism and terrorism. Although a secular plan to combat and replace Islamism may soothe the nerves of many in the international community, its deployment in Bangladesh has paradoxically produced a dangerous culture of disappearances and extrajudicial killings, infringements on freedom of speech and the stifling of dissenting voices, and the interception of opposition programs and the torture of opposition leaders and activists. The regime has also made a mockery of the law and the countrys judicial system. Many commentators believe that the countrys law courts are now simply an extension of the regimes political clout. In these circumstances, political repression continues unabated, and victims of persecution are left with inadequate legal recourse. In the name of combating Islamic terrorism, Bangladeshs ruling regime has resorted to a reign of terror that is in many respects tantamount to what we know as fascism.