Bangladesh, Dr Yunus, Journalism, Liberation War, Politics, Secularism

Shahriar Kabir’s Pen Refused to Bow

Sherlock Holmes

The Yunus regime stands condemned for unjustly imprisoning freedom fighter Shahriar Kabir, a steadfast symbol of secularism, on baseless charges. He is enduring torture behind bars and being denied critical medical care after experiencing a cardiac arrest. His plight underscores the blatant cruelty of this unconstitutional government, which serves the interests of war criminals and extremist leaders.

It has been more than seven months1 since Shahriar Kabir, an eminent writer, journalist, filmmaker and intellectual of Bangladesh, was arrested by the unconstitutional interim Government2 led by Dr. Muhammad Yunus on false allegations. Unlike him, during this despicable Yunus regime, many journalists, writers and political-cultural activists are either behind bars, indicted on false accusations or flying the coop3. In the last seven months of 75-year-old Shahriar Kabir's imprisonment, he, who cannot move without a wheelchair, has faced grim conditions as Yunus's phoney Government shows a complete lack of rule of law, resembling the law of the jungle. Futility in case filing, multiple impertinent remands, hare-brained judicial process, and naked violation of the Prisons Act of Bangladesh are pointed out. Significantly, the Yunus Government is going ape to hinder the basic treatment process of Shahriar Kabir, which is considered a fundamental responsibility of the state according to the de jure constitution of Bangladesh. Even after the second cardiac arrest of

Shahriar Kabir in jail4, the Yunus Government fiddled with the treatment. The corporate media has not reported, editorialised, post-editorialised, or discussed Shahriar Kabir's sufferings in newspapers or on talk shows, and there is no patina of so-called intellectuals' or human rights organisations' statements. Only social media activists, secular bloggers, and a single news portal, BD Digest, have broken Yunus's iron curtain against the media5 to crack the news and are up in arms about the megalomaniac Yunus administration. Shahriar Kabir, a freedom fighter in Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971, dedicated his life to promoting and preserving the spirit of Bangladesh's liberation movement. He has been dry behind his ears for five decades of Bengali children's literature6. Being a nonpareil storyteller, his hearkening back to the wartime memoir and the bedrock of 1971 and writing in pellucid prose for young minds becomes the panacea for all communal and compromised ills. In his novels and short stories written for children, the fastidious…

Dr Yunus, Opinion, Politics

The Scandal at the Bay: How Dhaka’s Diplomacy unravelled

Jahanara Nuri

A storm erupted when Bangladesh's Press Wing hastily responded to Tulsi Gabbard’s comments on minority issues. Ignoring protocol, the response fuelled ongoing "hate India" sentiments, deepening political and religious divides. Gabbard’s oversimplification of the 1971 Liberation War clashed with its complex realities, creating further misunderstanding. Islamists seized the moment, adding fuel to the fire. As crackdowns on the Awami League intensified, Dhaka’s diplomatic fragility was exposed— a bitter lesson in the dangers of reckless rhetoric. The Head of the Press Wing of the Interim Government received a new crown: "Enemy of the People", whose mantra became: "Blame your opposition for the crimes you commit."

PART 1   One.  A single spark can set a forest ablaze. A single word, misplaced, can unravel years of diplomacy. What unfolded was no ordinary misstep─ it was an act of unchecked enthusiasm, a leap before looking, A whisper that turned into crying in the middle of the night.   The storm began with a statement—seemingly harmless. It was meant to fall into the right hands, yet perhaps because it landed in the wrong ones, it became a matchstick struck against dry kindling. Neither the Press Secretary, who played a starring role in this drama, nor his employer, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, seemed to remember this childhood lesson: Too much of anything is perilous. With one impulsive stroke, Dhaka’s diplomacy was cast into turbulent waters. Some whispered it was reckless; others suspected it was deliberate.  Two. An encounter with a spy chief  March 12, 2025 - South Asia.  In the front page splash of Indian media heat a news─ Ms. Tulsi Gabbard,

the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, the first woman to hold the role, and a combat veteran─ was the first Trump administration official to set foot in India, since January, 2020.   India, a pivotal U.S. partner in the Indo-Pacific, was poised to play a central role in Tulsi Gabbard's diplomatic agenda. On February 12, she etched her name in history as the first U.S. official to meet with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Blair House, just days before his high-stakes discussions with President Donald Trump.   On March 18, 2025, she delivered a significant address at the esteemed Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, focusing on "Global Security and Minority Protection in South Asia." As India's premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, the Raisina Dialogue brings together global leaders to discuss pressing international issues. (Rezaul H. Lashkar, Mar 12, 2025, Hindustan Times).  ***  Her personal connection to Hinduism runs deep. Raised by a mother who embraced the faith and passed it…

Bangladesh, Dr Yunus, Opinion, Politics

Inside Yunus’s ‘meticulously designed’ theory

Ezaz Mamun

Many world leaders believed that Dr Yunus’s Grameen Bank has the transformative power of microfinance, allowing millions to access credit and enhance their livelihoods. While this remains a debatable theoretical aspect, through Grameen Bank, Dr Yunus has built a strong network and engaged in lobbying with numerous leaders and institutions, some of which have garnered recognition for questionable activities.

At the beginning, I want to point out an issue associated with quotas for jobs that some media outlets and certain citizens in Bangladesh view as the root cause of the current situation in Bangladesh.Bangladesh’s socioeconomic condition is characterised by significant disparities, with marginalised communities often left behind regarding opportunities and resources. The quota system for jobs was established to address this imbalance by ensuring representation for these groups, including ethnic minorities, women, and descendants of freedom fighters. However, all the quotas were revoked following a student movement a few years back. Following a court’s verdict to reinstate the quota system for jobs, students argued during the July 2024 student movement that it had transformed into a mechanism that perpetuated inequality and stifled meritocracy while depriving talented individuals of their rights, demanding an end to quotas for the descendants of freedom fighters. Initially, the motives behind the July student movement appeared straightforward. However, after months of observation, people in Bangladesh

are now convinced that the July 2024 movement was a facade aimed at undermining the country’s revered liberation spirit. Identifying the mechanisms behind the scenes from the movement’s outskirts proved challenging, as the cunning and ill-motivated student leaders mimicked national sentiments with ‘meticulously designed’ tactics and conspiracies. At the Clinton Global Initiative’s annual meeting in the United States in September last year, Bangladesh’s interim government Chief, Dr Muhammad Yunus, revealed that the mechanism for ousting Hasina was well planned. Dr Yunus stated, “It was a meticulously designed thing. It just didn’t happen suddenly. Very welldesigned. Even the leadership didn’t know (him), so they could not catch him.” He unveiled the mastermind behind these actions. By acknowledging this subterfuge, Dr Yunus categorically told us a hidden story of miscreants who are actively conspiring against Bangladesh. However, there is also an immense possibility that Dr Yunus is directly involved in the processes and conspiracy to oust Sheikh Hasina and her government. Dr…

Analysis, Minority Rights, Opinion

Persecution against Dissenters and Minorities in Bangladesh

Robi Das

Yunus regime is persecuting dissenters and minorities in Bangladesh. Prominent human rights activists and journalists are either in prison in baseless cases or silent due to baseless cases filed against them. We need to fight for those whose rights are violated in Bangladesh.

The rate of persecution against dissenters and minorities has increased in Bangladesh since August 5 2024. Between 5 and 8 August, it was the Islamic terrorists and fundamentalists with the support of right-wing political forces, e.g. Jamat-e-Islami, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Hefazat-e-Islam etc., who targeted dissenters and minorities all over Bangladesh. After August 8, the interim government also joined the band and weaponized law enforcing agencies and judiciary to arrest more than a hundred thousand dissenters in thousands of baseless cases citing murder, torture, blasphemy and sedition charges. The current Yunus government’s primary targets are authors, filmmakers, journalists, lawyers, activists, secularists, human rights defenders and pro-liberation people. These people have dissented from the ideology of the anti-liberation and pro-Islamist right-wing forces, which the Yunus government is promoting now.   The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council is one of the few human rights organizations that raised the red flag regarding the persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in the name of attacking political opponents.

Advocate Rana Das Gupta, a human rights defender and General Secretary of the organization, stated in a press release dated September 19, 2024, that nearly 2010 violent incidents took place targeting religious and ethnic minorities between August 4 and August 20. However, the Human Rights Congress for Bangladesh Minorities (HRCBM) reported that the real numbers are much higher and remain unreported (HRCBM, 2024). The government denied these numbers, and without proper investigation, they claim these reports are baseless. After the first report, Das Gupta found that he was named as accused in three (3) cases on baseless murder charges.  Advocate Gupta was not the only one. Chinmoy Krishna Das, a monk of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), also raised his voice against the minority persecution. He demanded the immediate establishment of the Minority Rights Commission, the Ministry for Minority Affairs, the enactment of the Protection of Minority Act, etc. He was critical of the government’s denial of ongoing…

Constitution, Opinion

Thoughts on the Proposed Reforms to the Constitution of Bangladesh, our ‘Salus populi suprema lex esto’

Audity Falguni

Be it Roman jurist Cicero, Greek philosopher Aristotle or comparatively modern ‘Social Contract’ writers like Hobbes, Locke or Jean Jacques Rosseau, ‘constitution’ has been acknowledged as the ‘supreme book ‘of a state across the civilizations. Bengalis, both a tolerant and rebel nation, have traversed the crude epochs of history over the millennium. Their struggle for justice and dignity touched its momentum with the birth of Bangladesh as an independent state in 1971 and adoption of a liberal, democratic and egalitarian constitution. But how many times the military dictators and religious bigots have tried to destroy the fundamental tenets of our constitution? Are we facing that recurrent, dark trial even today?

In a manner that resonates with the Latin maxim 'Salus populi suprema lex esto' (The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law), attributed to the renowned Roman jurist Cicero in  De Legibus (Book III, Part III, Section VIII), the Constitution of Bangladesh similarly asserts in its Preamble. :  Further pledging that it shall be a fundamental aim of the State to realize through the democratic process a socialist society, free from exploitation a society in which the rule of law, fundamental human rights and freedom, equality and justice, political, economic, and social, will be secured for all citizens.’   Adopted by the Constituent Assembly on November 4, 1972, and coming into effect on December 16 of the same year, our Constitution is the culmination of our blood-stained, nine-month-long Liberation War in 1971. It consists of 153 articles, 11 parts, and 4 schedules. Our Constitution establishes Bangladesh as a ‘Unitary Parliamentary Democracy’ and enshrines the four fundamental principles of

nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism. The current ‘Constitution Reform Commission,’ chaired by Bangladeshi American political scientist and author Dr. Ali Riaz, a Professor at Illinois State University and a US citizen, has recently put forth seven significant proposals for changes to the Constitution of Bangladesh. These proposed reforms have sparked considerable debate across various segments of society. Even the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which might have been expected to benefit the most from the reforms scheduled for July 2024, as well as the satirical online magazine earki—another strong advocate for the July 2024 initiative—have voiced their dissent regarding these proposed constitutional changes.  Evolution of Constitution  Encyclopedia Britannica defines ‘constitution’ as ‘the body of doctrines and practices that form the fundamental organizing principle of a political state.’  Etymologically, the term ‘constitution’ is derived from the Latin word) constitutio, used for regulations and orders, such as the imperial enactments (constitutiones principis: edicta, mandata, decreta, rescripta, etc.). Later, the term was vastly used in Canon law for any pertinent determination, particularly a…

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