DHAKA, May 23 (Alliance News): Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus must remain in office to ensure a peaceful democratic transition, a top cabinet member said Friday, amid mounting political unrest and growing tensions with the military.
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and a close aide to Yunus, made the remarks on social media following the Nobel laureate’s threat to resign if political parties did not support him.
“For the sake of Bangladesh and a peaceful democratic transition, Professor Yunus needs to remain in office,” Taiyeb posted on Facebook before later deleting the statement.
Yunus, 84, assumed the role of chief adviser after a student-led uprising ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.
The South Asian country has remained mired in instability since then, with opposition parties, especially the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), staging massive protests demanding a fixed election date.
Although Yunus has pledged elections by June 2026, BNP supporters — seen as likely winners in the polls — are pressuring the interim government to hold elections by December. The unrest escalated this week after a massive BNP rally in Dhaka.
Relations between the interim civilian government and the military have reportedly soured. Military chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman recently declared that elections must be held by December, warning of a worsening political crisis. In response, Minister Taiyeb cautioned the army against political interference, stating, “The army can’t meddle in politics. That doesn’t happen in any civilised country.”
The army, which refused to suppress last year’s uprising and briefly took control before transferring power to Yunus, defended its role in the transition.
In a statement, it accused “vested interest groups” of trying to sow discord between the military and the public and revealed it had provided shelter to hundreds of civilians — including politicians, judges, police officers, and academics — to prevent extrajudicial killings during the chaos that followed Hasina’s fall.
The former prime minister remains in self-imposed exile in India, defying an arrest warrant related to alleged crimes against humanity during the crackdown.
The Awami League, her party, was officially banned this month following protests outside Yunus’s residence — a move condemned by Human Rights Watch as a violation of basic freedoms.
With the country’s political future uncertain and its fragile civilian-military balance under strain, Yunus’s continued leadership appears increasingly crucial to navigating Bangladesh toward stable elections and a peaceful democratic handover.
