Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh’s interim government. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

In a major crackdown on the veteran security officials, the interim government of Bangladesh this week has ordered the cancellation of passports of twenty-two officials who served in the powerful intelligence and law enforcement agencies including the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB). In a notification, the Home Ministry of Bangladesh announced that the passports of these veteran officers were being cancelled as they are currently under investigation for disappearing political opponents during the Sheikh Hasina presidency.

The notification further stated that there were primary evidence of their involvement in abduction of opponents and the step was being taken to prevent them from leaving the country. Most of the names in the list were in prominent positions in the Bangladesh military, and in the intelligence agency DGFI and the National Security Intelligence (NSI). A few on the list were involved in the Rapid Action Battalion, an enforcement outfit that got negative publicity during Hasina era. The Home Ministry of Bangladesh is currently headed by Adviser for Home Affairs Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.

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Among those mentioned in the list is Molla Fazle Akbar who served as the head of DGFI during 2009 to 2011. Others in the list are former officers of DGFI and NSI Lt. Gen. Akbar Hossein, Saiful Abedin, Saiful Alam, Ahmed Tabrez Shams Choudhury, Maj. Gen. Hamidul Haque. Since the formation of the interim government under the leadership of Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus, Dhaka has released persons who were reportedly under detention in secret hideouts controlled by various intelligence and security outfits under Sheikh Hasina government. Senior police officer Mohiuddin Faruki who is currently in prison on murder charges is also on the list. Noteworthy that it was during the tenure of Molla Fazle Akbar as the head of DGFI that Bangladesh carried out several operations targeting insurgent groups – ULFA included – that were active in northeast India.

The order to cancel passports came days after the special commission on disappeared persons recommended that these former officials should be prevented from leaving the country. A report published by news outlet Jugantar has informed that the actual process of cancellation of the passports may take 2-3 days.  The latest decision on cancellation of passports of veteran military and security officials is the biggest such action targeting the security establishment of Bangladesh that has been carried out by the Yunus government that is facing a law and order crisis because of the absence of effective policing in the country. The police forces of Bangladesh have been facing public ire because of their role in the anti-students crackdown during the last days of the Hasina government.

India and Bangladesh have maintained their ties despite “turbulent changes” and changes in the “political wind”  in the country, said India’s High Commissioner to Dhaka, referring to the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on August 5 and the violence that followed.

In his first such major speech to a public audience since the interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus took over, the envoy said that bilateral projects on transport and energy, including this week’s inauguration of a power supply line from Nepal to Bangladesh via India, as well as the continuation of trade in the past few months demonstrated how inter-linked the two countries are, and that ties cannot be reduced “to a single issue”.

The comments by High Commissioner Pranay Verma came on a day Mr. Yunus said in an address to the nation to mark 100 days in government that he would ask India to “send back” Ms. Hasina, who has been living there, a demand that could become a sore point between Delhi and Dhaka in the future.  

“The fact that our trade and economic ties, our transport and energy connectivity, and our people-to-people engagements have sustained a positive momentum, despite the turbulent changes in Bangladesh, shows that our relations are truly multifaceted, and cannot be reduced to a single agenda or issue,” Mr. Verma said, in an address to the Bay of Bengal Conference organised by the Centre for Governance Studies here on Sunday.

‘Zero-tolerance on terrorism’

Referring to Bangladesh’s decision to shut down terror camps in 2009, and curb anti-India activities in the past two decades, Mr. Verma said that the country’s “zero-tolerance on terrorism” proved vital for bilateral cooperation and prosperity. “It will remain an important factor in the future development of our two countries, our region and our relationship.” 

He added that a “strong and prosperous” Bangladesh is vital for India and vice versa. 

The comments by the High Commissioner are significant as India and Bangladesh have seen a strain in ties after Ms. Hasina’s move to India as well as amid India’s concerns over the targeting of minorities including the 13.1 million-strong Hindu community in the country. Last week, the Ministry of External Affairs once again urged the Yunus government to take “strong measures” to ensure the safety of Hindus, after reports of a number of attacks on the homes of the minority community in Chittagong.

The issue was raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a call with Mr. Yunus in August. While Mr. Yunus attended a virtual summit of the Global South hosted by PM Modi virtually, the two leaders have not met so far, and missed being in New York on the same days during the UN meet in September. Plans to meet at the BIMSTEC summit in Thailand had to be shelved due to a change in government there, and the meeting may only take place in April 2025, sources said. However, the sources pointed to a possible visit by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Dhaka in the near future. 

‘Irritants’ no deterrent

“There are irritants but they have not restricted the overall forward movement in our relations,” Mr. Verma said in his speech, adding that the inter-dependence between both countries and mutual benefit “will keep reasserting itself again and again, regardless of changes in the political wind”.

Mr. Verma had also been present during an address by Mr. Yunus at the conference on Saturday, where he called for the region and the international community to engage with the “New Bangladesh”. In his speech, Mr. Verma said Bangladesh is India’s largest trading partner in South Asia and the fifth largest in the world, and that India had given Bangladesh “duty-free, quota-free access” for more than a decade under the regional SAFTA agreement.

In a television address on Sunday, Mr. Yunus made it clear that his government would continue to pursue the extradition of Ms. Hasina to Bangladesh to stand trial in a number of cases related to police crackdown on student protesters over two months, which he said had resulted in the deaths of 1, 500 civilians, and about 20,000 being injured. He said he had also discussed the issue with the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan.

“After the July-August revolution, we inherited a country in chaos. Law enforcement forces placed in front of the people to maintain the autocratic rule,” Mr. Yunus said, adding, “We will also ask India to send back the fallen dictator Sheikh Hasina.”

India has thus far maintained that Ms. Hasina had come to India on “a short notice” in August given the security situation in the country. Bangladesh has thus far not formally requested her extradition.

(The correspondent was invited to Dhaka to attend the Bay of Bengal Conference)

Rumeen Farhana. File
| Photo Credit: via Rumeen Farhana/Facebook

With countrywide incidents of lynching of political activists from the deposed Awami League and growing violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the condition of Bangladesh under Prof. Muhammad Yunus-led interim government has turned ‘clumsy’, said a leading member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Rumeen Farhana.

Former BNP member of Parliament, Ms. Farhana said the law-and-order machinery in Bangladesh was not functioning and called upon the Yunus administration to make way for a “more efficient” set-up.

“The interim government is not elected by the people, and it is only an elected government that can be held accountable for its acts of omission and commission. The interim government should hand over power to a more efficient government if they are unable to deal with the present challenges,” said Ms. Farhana, who is also the Editor of Ittehad. Ms. Farhana had been a member of Parliament during the Sheikh Hasina years and was noted for her fiery criticism of the Awami League Government. Earlier this month, she however surprised the political scene of Bangladesh by calling upon the Yunus administration to step down.

“If this government is still not able to control law and order strictly, they should surrender after giving the reins to those who are more capable,” Ms. Farhana had declared in a TV interview calling out the Prof. Yunus-led government for failing to address protests in the garment sector, violence in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the insecurity of the minority communities of Bangladesh.

In her telephonic interview with The Hindu, Ms. Farhana, daughter of the late Oli Ahad, a leading figure of the 1952 language movement, expressed scepticism about the scope of the reforms that the interim government had launched since taking charge on August 7.

The BNP’s London-based Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman on September 28 indicated growing impatience with the interim government and called on it to “clearly define” the road map of reform.

Six committees

The interim administration led by Prof. Yunus and his team of advisers has launched six committees that are expected to come out with reports suggesting reforms in various sectors such as election, judiciary and economy. But the reform agenda of the government has been overshadowed by frequent reports of ‘mob justice’ or lynching of activists of Awami League’s student wing, looting and extortion of private entrepreneurs.

Social media in Bangladesh in recent weeks has been rocked by the videos of brutal lynching of young men by mobs with sticks, machetes and axes, indicating a general breakdown of law and order.

Ms. Farhana said that the lack of strict policing against the perpetrators of such crimes had generated an impression that the police forces of Bangladesh were disinclined to act against them, adding “The situation under the interim government is really clumsy. The police are disinterested in enforcing law and order and there is no clarity about the timeframe for democratic process.”

She also blamed the past Awami League government for instilling high tolerance level among the police for politically motivated mob lynching.

Ms. Farhana described the interim government as a ‘revolutionary administration’ which has brought an ‘utopian’ agenda of reforms. These remarks on the interim government have added to the call for election by the General Secretary of BNP, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.

The democratic process got a boost last week after Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman had called for election in one and half years. However, Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary to Prof. Yunus said on September 27 in New York that the elections would be held 18 months after the completion of the multi-sector reforms.

Dhaka:

Indian High Commission in Dhaka has issued an urgent advisory for Indian citizens and students in Bangladesh to avoid non-essential travel and minimise movement outside their residences due to the escalating unrest in the country.

The advisory comes in response to recent violent clashes between students and police in Dhaka, following the Bangladeshi government’s decision to close all public and private universities.

Advisory on the ongoing situation in Bangladesh. pic.twitter.com/nSMsw9hWp0

— India in Bangladesh (@ihcdhaka) July 18, 2024

The protests have been driven by demands for reform of the country’s quota system for civil service jobs, which reserves positions for specific groups, including descendants of those who participated in the 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.

On Thursday, protests intensified as students clashed with law enforcement in various locations across Dhaka. In Merul Badda, near Brac University, demonstrators blocked roads and engaged in violent confrontations with police, resulting in multiple injuries. By late morning, police deployed tear gas to disperse the crowd, leading to significant traffic disruptions in the area, Dhaka Tribune reported.

Additionally, students obstructed the entrance to the Bashundhara Residential Area on Pragati Sarani and blocked the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Jatrabari, severely affecting public transportation and causing widespread inconvenience. The Mirpur 10 roundabout and surrounding areas also experienced a heavy police presence, with many local markets and shops remaining closed.

The protests began in response to perceived police brutality and have evolved into a broader demand for justice for those injured or killed in previous demonstrations, as well as a call for a violence-free campus and rational reform of the quota system, as reported by Dhaka Tribune.

In light of the volatile situation, the High Commission of India in Dhaka and the Indian Assistant High Commissions in Chittagong, Sylhet, and Khulna have established 24-hour emergency contact numbers for Indian nationals and students who require assistance:

High Commission of India, Dhaka: 880-1937400591 (also on WhatsApp)

Assistant High Commission of India, Chittagong: 880-1814654797 / 880-1814654799 (also on WhatsApp)

Assistant High Commission of India, Sylhet: 880-1313076411 (also on WhatsApp)

Assistant High Commission of India, Khulna: 880-1812817799 (also on WhatsApp)

The recent protests have been fueled by dissatisfaction with Bangladesh’s quota system, which sets aside a significant number of civil service positions for specific groups. This system has been a contentious issue in Bangladesh for years, with current demonstrations reflecting deep-seated frustrations over both the quota system and the response of law enforcement to peaceful student movements.

The Indian government continues to monitor the situation and advises all citizens in Bangladesh to adhere to the travel advisory and reach out to the High Commission or Assistant High Commissions if they are in need of urgent assistance.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)