KOLKATA Bangladesh must not become a new home for Islamic extremists from across the world, said one of the key exiled members of the Sheikh Hasina government that was deposed last August in a student-people uprising in Dhaka. In an exclusive interview to The Hindu, Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel who was the Education Minister of the Awami League government and handled negotiation with the leaders of the July-August uprising, said the future of the interim government in Bangladesh in the coming months will depend on the attitude of the incoming Donald Trump administration in the U.S. and reminded that the security situation of Bangladesh should not be viewed in isolation from developments in other conflict zones especially in West Asia.
“Dr. Yunus invested in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and described the victory of Donald Trump in his first term as an ‘eclipse’. Given this as his opinion about Donald Trump, I am sure there will be some repercussion for the interim government after President Trump is sworn to office on 20 January,” said Mr. Chowdhury who served as a deputy education minister during the third stint of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from 2018 to ’23. In January 2024, after PM Hasina was re-elected in a controversial election, he was made education minister and joined the cabinet.
“Bangladesh should not become a new home for Islamic extremists like Syria and Iraq that served as bases for these elements during the past decade,” said Mr. Chowdhury cautioning about the expanding base of the extremist groups like Hizbut Tahrir and Jamaat-e-Islami Bangaldesh over the past several months. He indicated at the growing influence of Hizbut Tahrir that on 11 January had called for establishment of an Islamic state in Bangladesh and said, such groups should not be seen in isolation. “They are capable of impacting not just the region but also the international system,” said Mr Chowdhury.
The situation in Dhaka changed dramatically in the first week of July 2024 when Sheikh Hasina left for China and returned to find a full fledged students-led uprising against her government. Mr. Chowdhury was asked by PM Hasina to negotiate with the student-coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement which quickly escalated when the students called for “One point demand –resignation of Sheikh Hasina”. Mr. Chowdhury subsequently went underground and ultimately went into hiding.
The Hindu has learned that Sheikh Hasina was planning to hand over power to the Parliament Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury during the first week of August and that the military was ensuring a lockdown to stabilise the situation so that the handover of power could take place.
“We were present in Gonobhobon and were continuously planning how to resolve the protest and some of us felt that a sudden resignation by the Prime Minister would lead to the dissolution of the law and order machinery and that is why a lockdown was planned,” said Mr Chowdhury who accused the interim government led by Nobel peace prize winner Prof. Mohammad Yunus of failing to uphold law and order in the country.
“His absolute inability to bring any peace and stability and protect the minorities, the progressives and the secular population from purge, persecution and outright genocidal action from the extremists and ultra-Islamists and terrorists have exposed him completely,” said Mr Chowdhury adding, “Dr Yunus should not have any legitimacy in the eyes of the liberal West.”
He said that economic turmoil and industrial unrest has grown during the last five months in Bangladesh because of law and order situation which has not improved. The Yunus government has been saying that it aims to bring widespread changes in the country through reforms and a constitution reforms commission earlier this week suggested important changes to the 1972 constitution of Bangladesh. Mr Chowdhury in response said that the interim government has “no mandate” to carry out such fundamental changes.
“He has no mandate to decide on the ideological trajectory of Bangladesh. He has not taken part in our independence struggle. Therefore, he despises the ideological foundation of Bangladesh which is secularism, Bengali nationalism,” said Mr. Chowdhury.
Published – January 17, 2025 11:55 pm IST
