Jamaat chief flays Bangladesh president for interview, exposing political fault line again

Just over a week after a new government took charge in Bangladesh under Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, a political row has erupted in the country over an interview given by its president, Mohammed Shahabuddin, to a leading Bengali newspaper at home, Kaler Kontho.

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As Shahabuddin made sensational claims during the interview about what transpired in Bangladesh when the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus took over following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, the Opposition Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) counter-accused him of suppressing facts related to August 5, 2024, the day Hasina fled the country to India.

Jamaat chief blasts president

The JeI’s Ameer (leader) as well as the current Leader of Opposition in Bangladesh’s Jatiyo Sangsad (National Parliament), Shafique Rahman, made a detailed post on Facebook on Tuesday (February 26) saying Shahabuddin knew “many things regarding August 5, 2024” but concealed them.

“He did not acknowledge in his current statement what he told the leaders present regarding the resignation of the fallen and fugitive Prime Minister and what he later told the nation. And he did not say anything that day that he is saying now,” he wrote, making it evident that there was much camaraderie between Bangladesh’s Islamist forces and the former interim set-up.

Row over Hasina's resignation

The JeI chief was referring to the controversy over the missing resignation letter of Hasina, a constitutionally key document required to legitimise the incoming Yunus regime after the deposed prime minister left for India.

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The president came under criticism for allegedly making contradictory remarks on Hasina tendering resignation. He was accused of contradicting himself saying in an interview in October 2024 that he had not received the former PM’s resignation letter, two months after saying that he had.

Shafiqur also said that such conduct from someone sitting on the president’s post is unacceptable.

President slammed Yunus rule in interview

In his revealing interview given to Kaler Kontho on February 20 at his official residence Bangabhaban in Dhaka, Shahabuddin claimed that Yunus had not cared to inform him about key issues, including Bangladesh’s trade deal with the United States. It was announced on February 9, three days before the national polls were held. He said the then administration had "kept him in dark".

The president, whose term began in 2023 when Hasina was in power and was a nominee of the Awami League, also claimed that the former Yunus administration had put him under a virtual house arrest and even tried to remove him from presidency many times, which though he survived. He was also allegedly prevented from flying out of the country for medical treatment.

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“Efforts had been made to destroy law and order in the country forever and create a constitutional vacuum,” Shahabuddin told the newspaper, adding that he had not given up despite several attempts to uproot him since he made an iron resolve to protect the country’s constitution.

He also said Yunus never met him after returning from a foreign visit and brief him about the outcomes of such visits.

A leader who has a past association with the Awami League, which was banned during Yunus’s era and barred from contesting the latest elections, also praised the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leadership and particularly PM Tarique, something that would also not impress the JeI which lost the elections to the BNP-led alliance.

JeI’s Secretary General and former MP Mia Golam Parwar also criticised the president over the interview, saying he broke his oath by revealing state secrets in the public, Kaler Kontho reported.