In a bombshell opinion, the country’s lone Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has reached out to world leaders, including the Indian government to restore democracy in Bangladesh.
In an exclusive interview with India’s prestigious daily, The Hindu, Yunus suggested that Bangladesh should hold a mid-term election within a ‘short time’ to overcome the crisis by restoring democracy with a public mandate. Democracy laid down all solutions.
Prof Yunus, inventor of social business and pioneer in micro-credit for the poor, appealed for the international community, particularly India, to reach out to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to call for calm. India and Bangladesh are historical friends and should urge to restrain from committing crimes against the people, he remarked.
Dr Yunus condemns the killing of students and the common public as an ‘invading force’ from another country. We see police firing innocent students raising their hands and shooting at close range because they have the power to shoot to kill. That’s what we see, he said.
Regarding the recent student protest in Dhaka, the economist condemned the killing of students and innocent people by the police, paramilitary and army.
“The issue is democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the role of the judiciary. People have the right to express their views and the Government has no right to kill them for their views,”
Angered by the law enforcement exercise of excessive force to quell the student protest, he said, “Demonstrators were not out there to kill anybody. Their demand may be unpleasant to the government, but that doesn’t allow the government to shoot them to kill.”
The Noble Laureate appealed to the world leaders to observe the random killing in Bangladesh. He urged all members of South Asian countries to investigate the recent incidents in Dhaka as neighbouring countries.
Dr Yunus is hopeful that global leaders can use their informal relationships and informal channels to restrain our leaders and make them aware of the serious departure from the norm of democracy.
Without dubbing Bangladesh as governed by an autocratic regime, he questioned the legitimacy of the government of Sheikh Hasina, which held three sham elections sans the opposition to participate in the elections – which lacks the credibility of inclusive elections.
Yunus, literally rubbed salt into the wound, for reaching out to global leaders to ensure calm in Bangladesh has irked the government.
The government in a loud voice said Yunus’ rhetoric at the time of “ferocity of the crisis” this month has been deemed as an “anti-state” statement.
“Of course, the election is the ultimate solution to all political problems. When something doesn’t work, you go back to the people to seek their instructions.
They are the ultimate owners of the country. Make sure it is a genuine election, not an election of a magician,” Prof Yunus spoke to Suhasini Haidar, Diplomatic Affairs Editor of The Hindu from the French capital, where he was attending as a special guest at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
“Whether you’re freshly elected or you’re not elected, or you are abusing your position without the consent of the people, does not matter in a democracy. You are a government responsible for protecting people, not killing people. You cannot just pick up somebody because he belongs to the opposition party, so he is liable to be arrested,” he retorted.
Yunus did not hesitate to ask, why the army is tackling students. Pointing his finger at Hasina, he said that democracy can’t flourish with a magician.
“Why do you have to bring in an army to tackle the student demonstration? Now you say, there are some enemies inside. Who are those enemies? Identify them and deal with them, not by killing students,” added Dr Yunus.
Yunus, despised by Hasina, mentioned that the people in Bangladesh have committed themselves to democracy and to stay with democracy.
If democracy fails, Dr Yunus believes that the politicians should go back to the people again to get the mandate of the people, credibility of the people, the government doesn’t have any credibility left at this moment.
Hasina won a fourth consecutive term amid controversies after the main opposition party and allies boycotted the election in January this year. Her tenure will go down with Guinness World Records for becoming the longest-serving woman prime minister in the world.
In the latest “block raid”, over 9,000 people were arrested including leaders of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) for allegedly spearheading recent street violence, vandalism and arson of government properties, including two pride mega-projects and several government buildings.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged that the arrested leaders, members and supporters of the opposition are being tortured and maimed before being brought to court and are being tortured again after obtaining remand orders.
The challenger of Hasina also urged the government to “Get the people’s mandate, freely and fairly. That’s it. Democracy cures problems by getting people’s instructions because the state belongs to the people, not to some people in the government.”
In the interview with eminent Indian journalist Suhasini Haidar, the economist claimed that Bangladesh authorities have been suppressing the locals with bullets alike foreign forces evading from another country.
“I cannot bear to see it, I can’t see millions of Bangladeshis living in terror. Democracy puts people’s lives as the highest priority. Democracy is about protecting people, all people, irrespective of religion, political opinion, or any other differences of opinion. If a citizen is about to kill another person, the state’s first responsibility is to protect the person under attack,” he said criticising the incumbent regime in Dhaka.
Meanwhile, fourteen missions in Dhaka, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and the European Union (EU) in a joint letter to Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, urged the protection of human rights and fair trials for those arrested in the wake of last week’s violent clashes.
On the other hand, India and China have stated that this is an internal affair of Bangladesh.
First published in Northeast News portal, Guwahati, India, 28 July 2024
Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad
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