Bangladesh President on Yunus era: Don't know if anyone could endure the storm I survived

DHAKA: Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin has come out all guns blazing against Muhammad Yunus, accusing the former interim govt chief of hatching conspiracies to overthrow him as well as destabilise the country, and create a constitutional vacuum.

"They tried to keep me in the dark. They did not want the people to recognise me. They did not allow me to attend functions abroad or within the country," said the president, providing yet another peek into the unknown facet of the Nobel laureate who won over influential global lobbies by outfitting himself as a peace-loving academic, but whose tenure as interim administrator came to be defined by manipulation, semi-authoritarian tendencies and brazen indulgence of violent fundamentalists.




Significantly, in an interview to Bangla daily Kaler Kantho, Shahabuddin alleged that the Bangladesh-US trade agreement was executed in a "highly secretive manner" and that even the President's Office was not informed about it, a disclosure that would strengthen those who have maintained that the protests against former PM Sheikh Hasina were inspired by foreign forces.

The interview also confirmed the estimate that Yunus's authoritarian ways had both BNP and military uneasy, with Shahabuddin saying he would not have remained President if it wasn't for the "highest-level" of support of the armed forces and BNP leadership during the "challenging" 18-month period of Yunus' interim govt.

Yunus-appointee prosecutor Tajul Islam replaced

The Tarique Rahman-led BNP govt on Monday removed Jamaat-aligned Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) chief prosecutor Tajul Islam — who represented the former Muhammad Yunus interim govt in the “2024 crimes against humanity” case, in which former PM Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia, reports Ahsan Tasnim. Tajul has been replaced with Supreme Court lawyer Md Aminul Islam, who was a key member of former PM and BNP matriarch Khaleda Zia’s legal team. “My clear message is that those who did not commit any crimes will not face any harassment, but the real offenders will have to face punishment,” Aminul told reporters.