Bangladesh’s interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus is currently under severe criticism for having failed to maintain law and order, leaving the country at the risk of another military takeover of its day-to-day administration.
Dhaka is no stranger to Army involvement in governance with several takeovers and attempted coups marking its history, adding up to more than a dozen, since the country attained Independence from Pakistan’s repression in 1971.
In August 1975, the architect of Bangladesh’s freedom movement, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family was assassinated in a military coup that toppled the founding government and triggered years of instability.
Mujibur Rahman’s daughters — Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana — survived the assassination, being in Europe at that time. This was followed by tumultuous times that witnessed a series of coups and counter‑coups for the next two years.
There were multiple assassinations and power shifts, culminating in Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman’s consolidation of power.
Lieutenant General Rahman, known as President Zia, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in September 1978, which was later led by his wife Begum Khaleda Zia after his assassination by a group of military personnel on May 30, 1981.
Khaleda Zia, the country’s first woman Prime Minister, remains critical in a hospital, while her son, Tarique Rahman is expected to return home after 17 years of self-imposed exile in Britain.
BNP’s Acting Chairperson Khaleda Zia is considered a frontrunner in the February 2026 general elections in Bangladesh.
Following Lieutenant General Ziaur Rahman’s assassination, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad seized power in a bloodless coup in March 1982 and ruled until mass protests forced his resignation in 1990.
General Ershad, died of old age in 2019. He is considered among the most controversial but also consequential political leaders in Bangladesh, often referred to as “the dictator”.
Many of those he considered against him ended up assassinated or jailed for life. Between 1996-2011, there were reports of several coup attempts and alleged plots, but none produced long‑term military rule.
On the current situation, a recent report on “Future of India-Bangladesh Relationship” from the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs has addressed this issue.
The report, submitted in the just-concluded Winter Session of Lok Sabha, noted “that the situation in Bangladesh will not descend into chaos and anarchy due to some very strong fundamental characters of Bangladeshi society and polity”.
It said that “Bangladeshi identity is not solely religious, it has a strong cultural and linguistic Bengali identity. Secondly, Bangladesh has a mass-based political parties with a tradition of old democratic or semi-democratic politics”. And thirdly, “Bangladesh Army is not the Pakistan Army and has refused to fire on its own people”.
However, of late, Pakistan has extended its footprints in Bangladesh, including the Army where the ISI Commander Muhammad Asim Malik was in Dhaka a few months ago.
Additionally, there have been threats of capturing the “Seven Sister” states in India’s Northeast.
Therefore, Islamabad’s hand at further destabilising Bangladesh can not be ruled out.
The current state of affairs and the failure of the Yunus-led administration in containing violence have been criticised internally by various student leaders involved in the August 2024 Uprising, and prominent politicians. Former BNP Minister, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, has termed the situation as “mobocracy” after an attack on the India’s Consulate in Chattogram amidst nationwide violence.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that deterioration of law-and-order situation was due to failure of the interim government in Bangladesh.
The interim administration’s failure in addressing security aspects ahead of the crucial general election and a nationwide referendum had led to reports of likely Army interference.
The Inter‑Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate of Bangladesh has protested what it called a “spate of baseless and unfounded reports” of a possible coup and breakdown in the Army’s command chain.
The ISPR, earlier, has affirmed that the Bangladesh Army remains “strong, united, and fully committed to its constitutional duties”.
The official denial was seen as being aimed at domestic and international audiences to counter narratives of instability.
Amid the developments, Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman called up his Indian counterpart General Upendra Dwivedi recently and has assured him the security of all Indian assets.
Bangladeshi journalists say right to life at stake
Dhaka, Dec 23 (PTI): Bangladesh’s media is facing a difficult time and the freedom of expression has been overtaken by concerns over journalists’ “right to stay alive”, editors of several leading Bangladeshi newspapers have said.
The remarks came on Monday in the wake of mobs vandalising and setting ablaze the offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star newspapers in Dhaka on Thursday night, trapping several journalists and staff inside for hours as police and fire services were initially prevented from reaching the spot
.
“Freedom of expression is no longer the main issue. Now it is about the right to stay alive,” Daily Star editor and publisher Mahfuz Anam said at a press conference attended by senior politicians, business leaders and media owners.
The media in Bangladesh is facing a fight for survival, he said.
Anam said the attacks were aimed at killing journalists and staff rather than being acts of protest against specific newspapers.
Otherwise, the mob would have told journalists to leave before setting the buildings on fire, he said.
Instead, 26-27 media workers were trapped on the rooftop of The Daily Star building while the fire brigade was not allowed to reach them, Anam said.
He also cited social media messages allegedly calling for journalists of the two dailies to be hunted down and killed at their homes.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) defended its delayed intervention, saying immediate action could have worsened the situation.
“The reason we could not go into action there was to ensure that no human life was lost,” DMP Additional Commissioner Nazrul Islam told reporters.
The interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has said nine people have been arrested so far in connection with the attacks on the offices of the two newspapers and cultural organisations Chhayanaut and Udichi Shilpi Goshthi, following the death of radical right-wing youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi.
The newspapers were accused by the attackers of “serving the interests” of India and the deposed prime minister, Sheikh Hasina.
A staunch India critic, 32-year-old Hadi was a key figure in last year’s pro-democracy uprising that ousted Hasina’s Awami League regime on August 5, 2024.
The 32-year-old Inqilab Mancha spokesperson died while undergoing treatment in Singapore on Thursday last week. Hadi was a candidate for the scheduled February 12 general elections.
While the interim government condemned the attacks, it described the perpetrators as fringe elements, drawing criticism from rights groups and journalists who said authorities failed to prevent the violence despite appeals for protection.