by Dr. Jaipal Singh

Mohammad Yunus Factor & Foreign Hand: An Analysis

Following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina, the protesters also forced the sitting Supreme Court chief justice, head of the Bangladesh Central Bank, and most other key functionaries of the government/institutions. With the announcement of the formation of an interim government under the octogenarian Mohammad Yunus, the Bangladesh president issued orders for the release of former Prime Minister Begum Khalida Zia, who was undergoing a long prison term. Three days after taking oath as the head of Interim government, Mohammad Yunus was acquitted in the draft case earlier filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission which now made an application in the court withdrawing the case. Earlier, another Dhaka court had acquitted him along with three top officials of Grameen Telecom in a labour law violation case, and six months jail term suspended. As for Begum Zia is concerned, after the end of her government's term in 2006, scheduled general elections were delayed due to political violence and in-fightings had led to yet another bloodless military takeover. Among several corruption and other charges (total 36), Begum Zia was sentenced and undergoing to a total seventeen years imprisonment prison for the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case and Zia Charitable Trust corruption case in 2018.

Mohammad Yunus, third of nine children of Bengali parents, was born in June 1940 in a family of the Muslims in the Chittagong District of the United India. He established his reputation as a successful Bangladeshi entrepreneur, banker, economist, politician, and civil society leader over a period of time. For his liberal views, he found many admirers in the West, his proximity to the Clinton couple in the US being well known. President Bill Clinton was especially vocal advocating a Nobel Peace Prize for him, which was jointly awarded to him and the Grameen Bank in 2006 for the contribution to economic and social development in giving loan to poor without seeking financial securities. He has received many other awards and honours too, including the prestigious US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 (the highest US award), the US Congressional Gold Medal in 2010 and Magsaysay award in 1984. However, in his own country, he was fired from the post of the managing director of Grameen Bank in 2011 and a local court upheld his dismissal on the charges of ‘loan sharking' and mismanagement of microfinance. According to reports, Mohammad Yunus has as many as 174 lawsuits against him, majority of which are civil cases, involving the allegations of the labour law violations, corruption, food adulteration, money laundering, and so on, which according to him and his sympathizers in the West are all politically motivated.

Two crucial takeaways of Sheikh Hasina's ouster as also serious issues of concern for Bangladesh are 1) the risk of Hindu Genocide with the interim government failing to protect Hindu families and their properties across the country, and 2) suspected hands of the American Deep State in engineering the present regime change with a puppet government owing to the US political and strategic interests in the South Asian region, more specifically for their continued interest about Saint Martin Islands:

Here the author would like to quote a relevant extract of a relatively mild incident from a recent report of the BBC India correspondent, while narrating plight of a terrified Hindu family. After formation of the interim government, the mob of about hundred people, armed with sticks and clubs, stormed the house smashing furniture, TV, bathroom fittings and doors and, before leaving, they took away all the cash and jewelry. However, they did not harm terrified members of the family but shouted at them, “You people are descendants of the Awami League! This country is in a bad shape because of you.  You should leave the country.” According to many reports pouring in and videos and images (although mostly unverified) circulating on the electronic and social media, apart from a large-scale arson, loot and violence, several people have been actually killed and women raped. These security concerns of the Hindu population in Bangladesh and its deep impact in the neighhbouring Bharat has been such that Prime Minister Modi had to raise the issue from the historic Red Fort on 15 August 2024 and Foreign Minister Jaishankar had to make a statement in the Parliament. According to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, since the fall of Sheikh Hasina government, at least 205 known cases of attacks had occurred on minorities, mostly Hindus, their temples and properties as on 12 August 2024.

Persecution of Hindus is not a new phenomenon in Bangladesh, it has a long history instead. They were over 33% at the turn of the 20th century, reduced to about 23% by the time of partition of India in 1947, which had now shrunk to less than 8% as in 2022. Anti-Hindu sentiments are so prominent in this pre-dominantly Islamic country that the only Hindu Supreme Court Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha (January 2015 – November 2017) ever was forced to resign with many unfounded charges of corruption, money laundering and moral turpitude slapped on him. Bangladesh author, Dr Taslima Nasrin wrote about the miserable plight of some Hindu families in her novel ‘Lajja' and she had to leave her country forever just to stay alive. Hindu intellectuals, teachers and professional are constantly attacked, made to resign and/or threatened to leave the country. Irony is the US and some other Western European countries always pretend to be guardian of the democracy and secularism but, for all practical purposes, they are actually seen aligning with the dictatorial and communal regimes world over. Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's key conspirator and killer Khandaker Abdur Rashid and others such as proclaimed Indian Sikh terrorist Harpatwant Singh Pannu are welcomed, granted citizenship and full protection in US but democratically elected Sheikh Hasina with a largely secular credentials or secular author Taslima Nasrin have no place in their political or humane consideration.

Those who keep a tab of political and strategic developments in the region made conjectures about the possible involvement of the ISI, US Deep State and/or China in Bangladesh turmoil leading to Sheikh Hasina's ouster and unsavoury flight to India. Keeping in view the American interest in the Saint Martin Island for a military base in the region, close links of Mohammad Yunus with the US government and private organizations, including former US President(s) and Sheikh Hasina's direct/indirect reference to US intervention do suggest that the present Bangladesh nemesis may indeed be a result of a complex interplay of domestic politics, personal rivalries and international influence. Some news reports have suggested such a foreign intervention linking the undelivered speech of Sheikh Hasina apparently admitting that she could have stayed in power but for handing over the control of the said island to the US thereby allowing them to have sway over the Bay of Bengal; a narrative that has been denied by her son currently located in UK. However, she indeed appears to have referred to such an insinuation in May 2024 when she claimed that a “white man offered her a hassle-free re-election in the 7 January 2024 elections provided she allowed a foreign country to establish an air base in Bangladesh territory.” This was not for the first time, certain reports speculated about the US interest in the St. Martin Island earlier in 2023 too, something which is formally denied by them but its geostrategic significance for US to counter the growing Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific, and now also in the Indian Ocean region, is undeniable.

The St. Martin Island is located in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal in close proximity just about 9 km of the Teknaf coast in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, and only 8 km west of north-western Myanmar. China is constantly engaged in increasing its footholds in the Bay littoral countries, more so through its Belt and Road initiative, and is reported to have assisted building Bangladesh's first submarine base, namely the BNS Sheikh Hasina, off the coast of Cox's Bazaar thereby augmenting the future scope of Chinese naval operations in the region. Some political analysts and geo-strategists indeed suspect a close US Deep State connection with the Bangladesh developments. The proximity and links of Mohammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Interim Government (akin to Prime Minister) with some US leaders and organizations is well known that also includes reported initial funding for his Grameen Bank initiative in Bangladesh by the latter and subsequent contributions of the former to the latter's causes. Bill Clinton's advocacy for a Nobel Peace Prize, the prestigious US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US Congressional Gold Medal, Magsaysay Award, umpteen honorary doctorate degrees from the American universities, etc., provide ample evidence how the US has considered and cultivated Mr. Yunus for a long time. Unrest created in Bangladesh in the name of Students revolution, security forces' suspect involvement and inaction and said revolutionaries' outright and vocal demand in favour of Mr. Yunus indeed carries volumes to many for pondering and deriving logical inferences. The US and Russian bitter past and rivalry, and how they keep a tab on each other employing various intelligence sources, do not need more illustrations and a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson had warned as back as on 15 December 2023 that in the even of US dissatisfaction with the results of people's vote (January 2024 General Elections), attempts at further destabilization of the situation in Bangladesh along the lines of “Arab Spring” are likely.

Actually, internationally acclaimed prizes/awards like Nobel or Magsaysay are not a guarantee for the person's morality, ethics, integrity, well-intentions, or merit of the recipient. Such awards have so often invited criticism and allegations of being politically motivated, premature, or even guided by lopsided or faulty objective and vision. More particularly, the Nobel Peace Prize has invited several controversies and criticism in the past. For instance, former US President Barack Obama was awarded Nobel Peace in 2009 just after 9 months of his first presidency tenure, widely criticized for premature bestow of this honour, and he ordered bombings in seven countries of Middle East, Africa and South Asia during his tenure. Former US Foreign Secretary Henri Kissinger received this august prize in 1973 justifying his role for the ceasefire in Vietnam; while he was well known for his hate and dubious role against India, the largest democracy in world, who completely ignored mass human rights violation and genocide of Bengalis (mainly Hindus) in supporting military dictatorship in Pakistan in 1971. Credentials of Yasser Arafat need not be reiterated, in whose case even a prominent member of the Nobel Committee had resigned in protest in 1994. In fact, it's a long list and not merely limited to people mentioned here. On the contrary, MK Gandhi worldwide acclaimed for his non-violence and peace efforts never received a Nobel Peace Prize. Same is the case with above cited Magsaysay award: two such awardees in India itself, one politician now chief minister of a state is currently languishing in jail on serious corruption charges in ill-reputed multi-crore Delhi Liquor Scam and the other a journalist is engaged in doing everything to discredit own nation and embarrass consecutively 3rd time democratically elected Modi government of India.

Although much acknowledged and appreciated in the Western governments and academic circles, Mr. Yunus has an eventful past with Sheikh Hasina and he has been a long-time critic of her government's programmes and policies. He was removed in his capacity as managing director of the Grameen Bank and slapped with many civil and criminal charges cited earlier during Sheikh Hasina regime. He has also been accused of links with the US Deep State, including Wikileaks cables revelation of Mr. Yunus seeking the then US ambassador's assistance in influencing the government to amend laws giving him authority over the Grameen Bank. Ironically after taking charge of the interim government, he has publicly appreciated and thanked the protesters (addressing them as revolutionary students), who have been on rampage indulging in vandalism, arson and violence against Hindu community across the country. Only time will tell what Mr. Yunus will do to restore peace, protection and confidence of minorities against the orchestrated attacks by the radicals and Islamists from the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Epilogue

What really embarrasses and disturbs is unqualified endorsement and appreciation by the new head of the interim government about the anarchy created by the protesters in Bangladesh in the name of popular students' revolution. Even after almost two weeks of his taking oath, the attacks on Hindu community have not stopped. Thousands of threatened Hindus families eager to cross border to escape persecution are posing a moral pressure, and law and order issues in the bordering Indian states. Release of convicted politicians and professionals earlier jailed after due trials belonging to BNP and other parties also do not augur well, reflecting on a faulty judiciary, law and order situation in the country. Several civil and criminal cases have already been slapped on deposed Prime Minster Sheikh Hasina demanding her deportation from India to Bangladesh for trial. There is no doubt that the new political dispensation in Bangladesh will now be relying more on the political parties like the BNP, and radical Islamic parties/groups like Jamaat-e-Islami for support, who had collaborated with the Pakistan army sponsored genocide in 1071 strongly opposing the independence for Bangladesh. Contrary to the US and their allies West's strategic opinion, currently Sheikh Hasina led Awami League had been a far better bet to continue secular and democratic policies in the country. After her departure, the fear of radical Islamists taking over to fulfil their long-cherished dream of the sharia-based Islamic order in Bangladesh is looming large. Only time will tell the fate of Bangladesh under the new US-friendly Mohammad Yunus regime.

(Concluded)

(This Article is reproduced in three episodes from www.boloji.com for fair information of our readers)

The Author is a retired civil servant of GoI; His core areas of specialization have been public administration, finance, information technology, human resource development, budget and planning, and legal matters. Currently, he is engaged in an Advisor capacity with one illustrious Central Autonomous Body; He has own literary website and his works are also available on https://www.myhummingword.com/)