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 description of human nature, culture and adventure, the ethereal sensitivity to the universe and its creations, the discerning delineation of the historical facts and philosophy, and all that jazz—opens the individual’s elysian visions.

But apart from the literary journey, Shahriar Kabir’s flair for a secular and pluralist spirit and his defiant stand against the war criminals of 1971—Jamaat-e-Islami⁷, Islami Chhatra Shibir⁸—and other extremist groups across the country and abroad, have made him one of the doyens of post-liberation Bangladesh’s secular activism landscape. Since 1972, he has been a part of the movement demanding the trial of the war criminals of 1971.

The convicted war criminal organisation, Jamaat-e-Islami⁹, was banned during the era of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation of Bangladesh, and for the second time it was forbidden by the Sheikh Hasina Government on 01 August 2024¹⁰. Following the horrific assassination of Bangabandhu in 1975 and the coup d’état in 2024, the anti-liberation political forces, individuals and groups took the decisive step of lifting the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami¹¹. Ghulam Azam, a convicted war criminal and the then-exiled leader of Jamaat-e-Islami was permitted to return to Bangladesh in July 1978 using a Pakistani passport¹². In December 1991, Ghulam Azam, who was later convicted as a war criminal, was elected Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami, an act that clearly violated Bangladesh’s constitution. In strong opposition to this brazen defiance, Jahanara Imam, a distinguished writer and cultural political activist honoured as “Shaheed Janani” (Mother of Martyrs), formed the Ghatak-Dalal Nirmul Committee. This committee demanded the trial of those devils who committed crimes against humanity during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War in collusion with the Pakistan military forces, positioning itself as a powerful force for justice and accountability in the country.

Shahriar Kabir played a pivotal role in this movement and in forming the Nirmul Committee. After the death of Jahanara Imam in 1994, he took up the baton to continue it. He is the former president of this organisation.

As a journalist for the groundbreaking magazine Weekly Bichitra¹³, the young Shahriar Kabir passionately engaged in journalistic investigations about the trial of war criminals. He explored the complex geopolitics that fueled extremism during the Cold War. With his commitment to uncovering these critical issues and their lasting impact, the war criminal organisation Jamaat-e-Islami and their by-product extremist and militant groups of Bangladesh curled their upper lip in disdain against Shahriar Kabir.

As a documentary filmmaker, Shahriar Kabir shows his erudite research and investigation regarding extremism and terrorism around the globe and their nexus through his Jihad Trilogy. The First part of the Trilogy, titled The Portrait of Jihad¹⁴, deals with the rise of Islamic militancy in Bangladesh and probes into the attacks orchestrated by radical Islamic entities like Harkat-ul-Jihad (HuJI), Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and so on. It sheds light on how they train, their funding source and their close ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami Party. Jihad without Border¹⁵, the second part of the Trilogy, is a close look at the Pakistani Taliban and Jamat-e Islami’s regional and global terrorist network. The concluding part, The Ultimate Jihad, offers an insightful exploration of how the US deep state has been implicated in the financing and encouragement of fundamentalism and extremism in various countries. His Jihad Trilogy aims to shed light on the broader objectives behind Islamic militancy around the globe, fostering a deeper understanding of the complexities involved.

What’s Past is Prologue

The above bare bones of Shahriar Kabir are only to describe his cast-iron ideological stand on the philosophical ground of Bangladesh’s historical liberation struggle, which was reflected entirely in the 1972 constitution enacted by the parliament under the leadership of Bangabandhu. Shahriar Kabir, along with his comrades, has gone through all the blood, sweat and tears for the trial of the war criminals and to protect Bangladesh from religious extremism and bigotry. The arrest of Shahriar Kabir on baseless charges and his imprisonment without legal justification clearly indicate that the Yunus government is under the leadership of Islamic militants and war-criminal organisations.

Being an effulgent personality and epoch-making voice of secularism and humanism, Shahriar Kabir stands as an unwavering threat to the war criminals’ party, their supporters, and the fundamentalist groups in Bangladesh. These devils have repeatedly attempted to murder him through their sleeper cells¹⁶. In February 2002, a bomb was thrown at a reception for him in the Chittagong Press Club, killing one bystander¹⁷.

But when the fundamentalist groups seize power, they shamelessly use state resources to pursue him, revealing their true intentions. In November 2001, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP) came to power after allying with the war criminal organisation Jamaat-e-Islami, led by Khaleda Zia—Shahriar Kabir, who was charged with sedition and for “tarnishing the image of the government.”¹⁸ His investigation focused on attacks against the Hindu minority that occurred from October to December 2001¹⁹. He accused two ministers from the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami party, Motiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, of participating in war crimes during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Both war criminals were later convicted and executed. In December 2002, Kabir and esteemed historian Dr. Muntassir Mamoon were detained. On 04 January 2003, the High Court decisively ruled that Kabir’s detention without charges was unlawful. Despite this, the Government held him for an additional 90 days under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, showcasing their disregard for the court’s ruling²⁰.

After the July terrorism in 2024, the political landscape became tumultuous as on 05 August, the Awami League government was toppled by a coalition of war criminal Jamaat-shibir, extremist groups, NGOs, and opportunistic academics, backed by direct funding from the US deep state under Joe Biden’s administration, and in this climate, the treacherous Dr. Muhammad Yunus and other advisors committed acts of treason by forming an illegal interim government²¹. The people of Bangladesh start to face the world, the flesh, and the devil under the Yunus illegal regime, as the extremists capture the country. No doubt, unlike the other conscientious and secular people, Shahriar Kabir feels a sense of wormwood and gall. On 17 September 2024, he was arrested for the third time by the militant-led Yunus government. It is essential to highlight that when the police detained Kabir at his residence in Dhaka, they had no charges against him²². After six days, he was decisively charged with crimes against humanity and mass killing²³. This is a blatant violation of the law, as no one should be arrested without valid charges being asserted.

Yunus’s All roads lead to the Fundamentalists

Shahriar Kabir was arrested in connection with allegations of crimes against humanity. Upon hearing this news, anyone with a sense of reason—friends or adversaries—would inevitably become flushed and flustered. The man who has championed the concepts of humanity and justice in his country for the past five decades²⁴ is now facing such serious charges. Is this a matter of valid judicial proceedings, or does it feel more like a fairy tale?

This is not the last but the beginning. Shahriar Kabir was also accused in a murder case filed over the death of a student at Jatrabari, Dhaka, during the July terrorism. He was placed on remand for the two deaths in the July terrorism. He was later placed in a second remand by Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Haider Ali, but was interrupted from speaking in court by lawyers aligned with the BNP.

After August 05, when Bangladesh started to contend with the Islamic terrorists and their all-pervading vandalisation and killing²⁵, when the Army chief’s balderdash and piffle about the law and order seemed to be zero to people’s consternation, when barbs against Bangabandhu and the freedom fighters were overflowing the social media platforms, when the historic house of Bangabandhu, later transformed in a museum,  Dhanmondi-32 was burned (completely demolished by Yunus government on February 05 2025), Shahriar Kabir stated boldly to the international media—     

I am not at all scared. I took part in the country’s freedom struggle and fought against the Pakistani army. I was about 20 then, and I should have died long ago. At 74, with one foot in the grave, why should I be afraid of dying?²⁶

It’s not rocket science to understand why the illegal Yunus government arrested Shahriar Kabir and is now attempting to harm him in prison by denying him necessary medical treatment for his critical health condition. As the whole interim Government is for the Islamic militants, of the radical extremists and by the war criminals, secular figures like Shahriar Kabir are suffering consequences for their pro-1971 ideological stance. So, no doubt Dr Yunus and his administration did, have done, are doing and will do all lethal torture against Shahriar Kabir to show full-course loyalty to their master, the Islamic militants of Bangladesh²⁷. Despite the Yunus government’s various wrongdoings in the past seven months, the arrest of Shahriar Kabir on unfounded charges and his confinement without a judicial basis is a significant indication of its oppressive and militant-tied leadership.

It becomes abundantly clear when we reflect on the statement made by the state prosecutor and BNP-backed lawyer Omar Faruq Faruqi during the court hearing on October 20 last year. He said,

Shahriar Kabir is an accused in this case. He identifies as an atheist and has made statements against Muslims. Atheists typically support the Awami League government, which favours them. The accused is involved in the murder case²⁸.

It is fundamentally flawed to accuse someone of murder without presenting any evidence—no arguments, no witnesses, no substantial documentation, and even lacking theological debate, which is quite unconventional for a courtroom setting, to determine if the person is truly an atheist. The only justification appears to be the simplistic assertion that “he is a murderer because he is an atheist.” This reflects the typical judicial procedures of a state led by militant ideologies.

Law adviser Dr Asif Nazrul showing his teeth

Dr Asif Nazrul, one of the rotten brats of this interim Government, is the primary instigator of the macabre machination against Shahriar Kabir. He has taken action against Kabir from two angles of vengeance. First, he seeks to fulfil the collective desire for retribution among Jamaat-Shibir and other fundamentalist groups. Second, he aims to take decisive revenge on Shahriar Kabir, who boldly exposed Asif Nazrul’s betrayal image during the Jahanara Imam movement.

Asif Nazrul embarked on his journalism career under the mentorship of Shahriar Kabir at the Weekly Bichitra. He participated actively in the Ekattorer Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee movement led by Shaheed Janani Jahanara Imam. Despite his involvement, Asif held distinct ideological views, exhibiting a lack of belief in the core spirit of the liberation war and showing little interest in pursuing justice against the notorious war criminals. His participation in that movement is now definitively documented as being a spy of the war crime party, Jamaat-e-Islami²⁹.

As a blue-eyed boy of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Asif Nazrul stabbed Jahanara Imam in the back. Shahriar Kabir elaborates on this in his book, Jahanara Imamer Shesh Dinguli (The Last Days of Jahanara Imam in English translation), published in 1995. In 1993, when the issue of the Commonwealth scholarship arose, Asif Nazrul had been given the condition of severing ties with the Nirmul Committee to secure the scholarship. Before this, Jaharara Imam had tasked him with investigating the first eight war criminals. Asif remained resolute in his decision to share documents solely with Jahanara Imam, who was battling cancer for 12 years. She travelled to the USA for medical care. The Nirmul Committee announced the publication of their report on March 26, 1994. Because of the greater interest, in an act of remarkable courage, avoiding the doctor’s advice, Jahanara Imam returned in February 1994 without completing her treatment, undeterred by the risks to her health. The Nirmul Committee announced the publication of their report on March 26, 1994.

Ultimately, however, it became clear that Asif had not conducted any investigation. He betrayed Jahanara Imam’s trust and accepted the scholarship, prioritising his interests over the shared mission³⁰. Shahriar Kabir was decisively removed from Bichitra, a government-owned entity, because the BNP government could not tolerate his active involvement in the movement demanding the trial of war criminals. Shahriar Kabir, however, remained undeterred. In stark contrast, current law advisor Asif Nazrul chose to act like Brutus, driven solely by the pursuit of a scholarship. Seeing this apathetic Gen Z portraying Asif Nazrul as a patriot is disheartening, reminding me of Dr. Samuel Johnson’s powerful quote: “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” Asif Nazrul has betrayed the spirit of a vital movement to elevate himself to the title of Dr. Asif Nazrul. One day, when the time is right, I will definitely expose the weight of his betrayals that enabled his transformation from professor to law advisor.

Sadly, Jaharara Imam passed away a month and a half later after suffering from severe cancer. The characteristics of Asif Nazrul, as described by Shahriar Kabir, are the actual image of the entire Yunus panel. These snollygosters, including Asif Nazrul, currently hold positions of power in Bangladesh. Shahriar Kabir has exposed each of these swindlers in his numerous writings and speeches. After the rotten July of 2024, these monsters have become powerful. They understand that for Shahriar Kabir, authenticity is not merely a choice but his nature. Malefactors are always merciless against the munificent Shahriar Kabir—we learn it from history.

Hope Springs Eternal

Despite Bangladesh’s corporate media’s unsettling silence³¹ and intellectuals’ muted voices regarding Yunus’s actions against Shahriar Kabir, numerous international human rights organisations and media outlets remain vigilant and poised for change.

Thirty human rights activists and scholars worldwide have written to Dr Yunus urging him to advocate for the release of Bangladeshi human rights activist and journalist Shahriar Kabir on 21 September 2024³².

On September 25, 2024, the South Asian Democratic Forum (SADF) published an open letter calling for the Bangladeshi Government to grant Mr. Kabir’s immediate release and nullify all charges against him.

On September 18, 2024, Justice Makers Bangladesh in France (JMBF) released a statement condemning the politically motivated detention of Shahriar Kabir and cultural-political activist Asaduzzaman Noor³³.

European Bangladesh Forum organised a press conference on December 03 2024, to demand the release of journalist and human rights defender Shahriar Kabir with the distinguished panel members.

The Yunus regime stands as a textbook illustration of fascism, authoritarianism, and unprincipled governance, systematically punishing anyone who dares to voice criticism. Yet, amidst this oppression, online activists and bloggers are boldly standing up against the unlawful detention of the writer-journalist Shahriar Kabir. Daily on platforms like Facebook, X, YouTube, and others, netizens passionately rally for Shahriar Kabir and vehemently protest the state-sanctioned tyranny imposed upon him. It is only a matter of time before this smouldering discontent brings the oppressive regime to a standstill.

Shahriar Kabir wrote a story titled Ekattorer Jishu (Jesus ’71 in English translation), which was first published in 1973. As a virtuoso of allegorical storytelling, he created four canorous sentences for the Santal old man Desmond, the story’s protagonist. When he saw three freedom fighters come to the Church’s courtyard, Shahriar Kabir wrote Desmond’s soliloquy—

…They know why the birds no longer sing in the sirish tree, why butterflies no longer dance among the meadow’s blooms, where all the sounds and colours of the world’s joy have vanished. They will restore the evanescent echoes of ecstasy. Wipe away the devil’s shadow of venomous sorrow from the heart of the earth. And once again, on the branches of the sirish tree, the birds will sing…³⁴

Shahriar Kabir—you know it well: the hell is empty because all the devils are in Bangladesh’s administration now. Deep darkness at noon has become the fate of your beloved country—jealousy fades out the joy, chaos rules over the chirp, extremism buries the enlightenment, war criminals file cases against the warriors, and a hypocrite wants to reset history.

But trust us, Shahriar Kabir, we still sing the truth to name the lairs.

23 April 2025

Notes and References

1. He was arrested on 17 September 2024. (“Shahriar Kabir arrested in Dhaka“, Dhaka Tribune, 17 September 2024.) ↩︎
2. Dr Yunus’s interim Government is entirely unconstitutional, as there is no provision for such a Government in Bangladesh’s current charter. However, a similar provision used to exist, known as a “caretaker Government”, was passed in 1996 through the 13th amendment to the book. Following the Supreme Court declaring the caretaker system unconstitutional, the Awami League Government abolished it through the 15th constitutional amendment on 30 June, 2011, with other significant reforms including increasing reserved seats for women, restoring secularism and freedom of religion, declaring Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the “Father of the Nation” and introduced provisions for environmental protection and the protection of cultural minorities (Source: Bangladesh Gazette Extra, 7889 of 2011). But in an unprecedented way, this unlawful Yunus Government managed to leverage the Supreme Court to validate its existence on 09 August 2024 through a full bench virtual meeting (Source: “Dr Yunus-led interim govt legal: SC”, The Business Standard, 09 August 2024). ↩︎
3. Ahsan, Syed Badrul, “In a fractured society with political turmoil and journalists in prison, where next for Bangladesh?”, Commonwealth Journalist Association (CJA), 22 April 2025.  ↩︎
4. “Professor Shahriar Kabir Suffers Second Heart Attack in Custody; Family Alleges Negligence”, The BD Digest, 03 April 2025. ↩︎
5. Barua, Sanjoy Kumar, “Bangladesh’s Yunus Government Cracks Down on Press: Journalists Face Violence, Legal Persecution, and State Censorship”, The Border Lens, 18 February 2025. ↩︎
6. Shahriar Kabir’s Goodreads Author Profile. ↩︎
7. Rubin, Michael, “Designate Bangladesh’s Jamaat-e-Islami as a Foreign Terrorist Organization”, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), 31 March 2025. ↩︎
8. “Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) is a terrorist organisation”, South Asian Terrorism Portal, 2017. ↩︎
9. “Jamaat a ‘criminal organisation’”, The BD News24 Dotcom, 15 July 2013. ↩︎
10. “Jamaat-e-Islami faces ban in independent Bangladesh again after half a century”, The BD News24 Dotcom, 31 July 2024. ↩︎
11. “Banned by Mujib & Hasina, accused of 1971 atrocities, contentious history of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami”, The Print, 30 August 2024. ↩︎
12. Hossain, Ishtiaq & Siddiquee, Noore Alam, “Islam in Bangladesh Politics: The Role of Ghulam Azam of Jamaat-I-Islami”, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Volume: 05, Issue: 03, 2004, pp. 384-9 ↩︎
13. Bichitra was a weekly literary magazine in Bangladesh that is now defunct. Founded in 1972 and owned by the Government of Bangladesh, it was edited by Shahadat Chowdhury, a freedom fighter from Sector 2 who served in the Crack Platoon during the 1971 Liberation War. The magazine’s founding editor was the eminent poet Fazal Shahabuddin. Bichitra is notable for being the first publication in Bangladesh to release a special Eid edition. The legendary poet Shamsur Rahman also served as an editor for the magazine. On 17 May 1978, the cartoon ‘Tokai,’ created by the renowned artist Professor Rafiqun Nabi, was published for the first time in Bichitra. ↩︎
14. PORTRAIT OF JIHAD – A documentary by Shahriar Kabir ↩︎
15. Jihad Without Border – A documentary by Shahriar Kabir ↩︎
16. An Islamic extremist organisation, Ansarullah Bangla Team, motivated by Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Yemen-based Al-Qaeda activist, allegedly involved in the killing of blogger Rajeeb Haider and attacks on two other bloggers, created a hit list where they targeted Shahriar Kabir along with 11 other intellectuals and political-cultural activists. (Source: “3 ministers among 12 in Ansarullah group hit list”, Dhaka Tribune, 14 August 2013. ↩︎
17. “Bomb explodes at Bangladeshi reception”, BBC News, 05 February 2002. ↩︎
18. “Bangladesh scribe arrest ‘illegal'”, BBC News, 12 January 2002. ↩︎
19. Later, he created a documentary titled Bangladesh 2001 based on his investigations. It is available on YouTube in Parts 01, 02, and 03. ↩︎
20. “HC ignored, Shahriar detained again”, The Daily Star, 06 January 2003. ↩︎
21. “Leaked files expose covert US government plot to meddle in Bangladesh’s politics”, The Grayzone, 30 September 2024. ↩︎
22. “Shahriar Kabir arrested in Dhaka, charges not specified”, The South Asian Times, 17 September 2024. ↩︎
23. “Shahriar Kabir shown arrested in 2 more murder cases”, The Daily Star, 23 September 2024. ↩︎
24. Roy, Ajoy, “Introducing Shahriar Kabir: A Humanist“, Mukto Mona Blog, 2003. ↩︎
25. “How Jamaat-e-Islami student wing, backed by Pakistan, fueled Bangladesh crisis”, India Today, 06 August 2024. ↩︎
26. “I will be the last person to run away, says filmmaker and writer Shahriar Kabir”, The Telegraph Online, 06 August 2024. ↩︎
27. Blackburn, Chris, “Bangladesh’s treatment of Shahriar Kabir: A test case for the nation’s future”, Global Order, 12 December 2024. ↩︎
28. ibid., The BD Digest, 03 April 2025. ↩︎
29. “Talking about Asif Nazrul changing colour like a chameleon, he said, he has always done it. “I got to know his dishonesty while in Bichitra.” Asif Nazrul’s 34-year-old writing about war criminal Sayedee goes viral, Somoy News, 15 August 2023. ↩︎
30. কবির, শাহরিয়ার, জাহানারা ইমামের শেষ দিনগুলি, অনুপম প্রকাশনী, ১৯৯৫, ঢাকা, পৃ. ৫২-৫৬ (Translated by the writer)। ↩︎
31. “Despite Yunus govt promises on press freedom, Bangladesh journalists face reporting minefields”, Benar News, 09 January 2025. ↩︎
32. “30 human rights defenders demand release of Shahriar Kabir”, Genocide Watch, 26 September 2024. ↩︎
33. “JMBF Strongly Condemns the Politically Motivated Arbitrary Arrests of Prominent Cultural Figures, Journalists, and Lawyers in Bangladesh”, Justicemakers Bangladesh in France (JMBF), 18 September 2024. ↩︎
34. শাহরিয়ার কবিরের লেখা একাত্তরের যীশু গল্প থেকে বর্তমান লেখক কর্তৃক ইংরেজিতে অনূদিত। ↩︎

Sherlock Holmes

To a great mind, nothing is little.