[🇧🇩] Bangladeshi PM Hasina Flees country amid deadly riots

[Saif]

Assad’s ouster and the ever-changing world for Bangladesh

Do we have the expertise to tackle the crises and exploit the opportunities in the evolving geopolitical scenario?

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Assad’s ouster and the ever-changing world for Bangladesh
Do we have the expertise to tackle the crises and exploit the opportunities?

FILE VISUAL: STAR

No two regime-toppling events are similar, yet there are some uncanny resemblances between the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad and Sheikh Hasina. Both seemed invincible but fell like a house of cards, clung to power for long yet disappeared within days, claimed popularity yet had little knowledge of how unpopular they had become. Both felt they stood on sturdy daises, but they were moth-eaten ones to the core. Both convinced themselves that they controlled the narrative yet were unaware that nobody trusted them. Both felt they were irreplaceable figures of history, but were replaced within days of their defeat without their people batting an eye. Both believed that ruling their people was their God-given right, hence they didn't need to take their people's mandate. So brutal, atrocious and heartless were their reigns that both had to flee and seek asylum abroad. They had no place in their countries, which they both thought they owned.

The Syrian revolution is the latest piece in the ever-changing world that Bangladesh will have to deal with as it forges ahead. The big question is: do we have the requisite expertise for it?

Foreign policy is among the least discussed subjects in Bangladesh. It is always shrouded in the mist of bureaucratic maze. In the 33 years of my experience with this daily, I cannot recall a single instance where foreign policy was discussed by the government in any public forum. Our parliament failed itself and the voters by never bringing it up in the House. Discussions by private think tanks or newspapers could go only so far.

None of the reform commissions is on foreign policy. This is indicative of our own sense of priority—or the lack of it. If not a commission, we could at least have officially brought some of our former foreign secretaries, senior bureaucrats, former ambassadors, academicians and security experts together to discuss how to navigate through the ever-changing geopolitical reality.

Take our relationship with India. One look at the map will tell you how vital, complex, multi-faceted and intricate our geolocation is, and the high-quality multidisciplinary expertise we need to get the best deal for ourselves. I have often wondered why we don't have specialised institutes to study our foreign relations, especially with our big neighbour. Do we really know what our only other neighbour is all about? The Rohingya issue should have driven home the point that we need geopolitics to solve it a long time ago.

Every university of repute should have courses that could produce specialists on these issues. The rise of the Arakan Army, which now controls our border with Myanmar, has suddenly brought home a new reality. Do we have the expertise to handle it, or even understand it?

In my long years as the editor of The Daily Star, I realised that when we talk about relations with India, we most often think of New Delhi and Kolkata and at best Mumbai. We have very little idea of South India where India's IT hub is located, and from where our startups and IT entrepreneurs could have learnt. How do we forge a new, win-win, non-hegemonistic and mutually beneficial and respectful relationship with India? The answer is clearly knowledge, competence and belief in ourselves. While we have the latter, we need significant work on the first two. We need coolheaded experts to sit together, do all the calculations, make the facts public, and make a stable and mutually beneficial relationship that benefits us both. Any one-sided agreement is bound to fail.

The just concluded trip by the Indian foreign secretary, we ardently hope, will mark some progress in our relationship that has shown some disturbing signs lately. Honestly, we have been totally outraged and deeply disappointed at the depiction of Bangladesh by the Indian media.

Take the case of the repercussions of the Syrian regime change. What was Russia's role in the sudden collapse of its long term ally—Assad—to maintain whom Putin invested hundreds of billions? The common wisdom is, the Ukraine war drained too much resources from Russia. He needed to make a choice about allocating additional resources, and he chose Ukraine. So what will be Russia's new strategy? Will it abandon Syria?

What is the story of Iran? It did extend all its support to Assad and for a while felt comfortable being on the winning side. The destruction of Hamas in Gaza and subsequent diminishing of Hezbollah in Lebanon—both being integral parts of the forces that helped Assad stay in power—created the opening for the rebels to make their breakthrough. The impact on Iran is still not clear, but it definitely stands weakened.

Israel's bombing of Syrian military assets—480 airstrikes in 48 hours—is the clearest indication of how this war-mongering country is taking advantage of the situation. It has been more than a year since it started carrying out the most cruel and destructive bombing and killing of the Gazans.

Then it invaded Lebanon and killed thousands of ordinary citizens in the name of destroying Hezbollah. Israeli soldiers were spotted way into the Syrian territories around the Golan Heights, which President Donald Trump allowed Israel to annex during his first term. Israel is indiscriminately attacking some of its neighbours with complete impunity—without the UN Security Council condemning it for such a blatant violation of international law.

What its policy will be vis-à-vis Iran is the big question. When a country's foray inside other countries goes unchallenged, in fact encouraged, how far it will take its aggression remains unclear. History has very dangerous lessons in this regard.

Türkiye has definitely emerged as a more active player with its president now holding more cards than before.

Relations with the US under President Trump will be quite a challenge for Bangladesh. The former prime minister's offensive and unexplained comments on the US has left a bad taste in the mouth of the State Department officials. Trump's message on X before the election clearly shows the nature of our future challenge.

Our only counterbalancing factor is the respect that Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus enjoys in the US, being one of the very few recipients in US history of the two highest civilian medals: the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. Both were bipartisan honours.

It is this uncertain world that Bangladesh's foreign policy will have to navigate. The first and the most important thing we have to understand is that whatever emotion and feelings that may drive us in domestic affairs, when dealing with foreign policy, we need pragmatism. There is, of course, our own idealism and world view, but the only way forward is being a realist. While flexing muscle can be an option for the big powers, for us, making our case logically, factually and convincingly and gathering global opinion to back it is the only answer.

The new Bangladesh must persuasively tell its story to the world. It must be able to convince others that we want to build a free, just, inclusive, tolerant, equal and democratic society internally, and a peaceful and just international order globally. For that, words and speeches are not sufficient. We need performance that produces powerful facts, and for that we need all-round expertise.

Mahfuz Anam is the editor and publisher of The Daily Star.​

 

[Saif]

The purloined escape

This process of redefining the nation would require confronting the fragmented meanings that linger in the wake of Hasina’s influence.

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The purloined escape
Bangladesh's struggle with authority, absence, and illusion

Bangladesh’s true challenge lies in confronting the foundational flaws that perpetuated Sheikh Hasina's authority. FILE PHOTO: AMRAN HOSSAIN

Sheikh Hasina's flight from Bangladesh under duress marked a momentous "event"—a term philosopher Alain Badiou employs to describe a "radical rupture" in the historical and political fabric. Her ignominious ouster, following a popular uprising, exposed deep political fractures. It seemed to signify the end of an era dominated by her authoritarian rule. Yet, its aftermath lingers like the spectral presence of a purloined letter: visible yet elusive, significant yet unresolved. Her escape, an act unfolding in plain sight, remains steeped in symbolic implications, clouded by the political and social dynamics it unleashed.

In Jacques Lacan's reading of Edgar Allan Poe's The Purloined Letter, the "lost letter" symbolises a hidden truth that remains elusive despite being in plain view. It is not absent in a literal sense, but displaced and misinterpreted. Similarly, Hasina's "purloined escape" embodies an act both present and absent. While her departure is a visible fact, its underlying significance remains deferred—a symbol open to multiple interpretations. Like the purloined letter, her flight disrupts the established order, evoking uncertainty and perpetuating the structures of power and resistance it was meant to dismantle.

Hasina's absence exemplifies Lacan's concept of deferred meaning, where significance is perpetually postponed. In Poe's story, the ongoing search for the letter creates the illusion of stability despite underlying turmoil. Similarly, Hasina's escape transforms her from a political leader into a symbolic figure whose influence lingers in her absence. The question of moving forward while grappling with the structures she left behind remains unresolved, caught in the paradox of her "absence of presence" and "presence of absence."

Entrenched binaries and deferred relevance

Major political parties, notably the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, struggle to assert relevance, clinging to their unforeseen adversarial posture. Despite, or perhaps because of, Hasina's dramatic departure, they remain entrenched in the binary opposition of Awami League versus BNP, failing to adapt to a shifting political reality. Their efforts to position themselves against the interim government, already accused of being mired in inefficiency and elitism, ironically amplify Hasina's lingering influence.

This inability to evolve underscores their reliance on a familiar, albeit antiquated, political script. Rather than reimagining their roles in a post-Hasina polity, they perpetuate old rivalries, allowing her symbolic shadow to dominate. Their reluctance to transcend the oppositional framework—built on decades of political polarisation—delays the potential for meaningful reform. In this stasis, they fail to address systemic challenges that demand attention, undermining their relevance in an evolving political landscape.

Revolutionary fervour meets institutional inertia

Meanwhile, the students who spearheaded the July uprising face the daunting task of translating revolutionary fervour into institutional change. The inertia of the very systems they sought to dismantle threatens to co-opt their idealism, reducing their efforts to yet another cog in the machinery of political stagnation. While their aspirations to launch a new political party reflect a desire for transformation, these efforts risk dilution through compromises with questionable political stakeholders, potentially undermining their revolutionary ethos.

The students' struggle is emblematic of a broader challenge: the collision between transformative aspirations and entrenched political structures. Their movement, though a catalyst for Hasina's ouster, now faces the task of sustaining momentum in a landscape rife with obstacles. The risk of becoming subsumed by existing political dynamics looms large, threatening to erode the revolutionary potential they embody.

The interim government: Navigating fragile terrain

The interim government—tasked with navigating this fraught transition—bears the weight of stabilising a fractured polity. Yet, the entrenched remnants of Sheikh Hasina's regime, particularly within the business and civil-military bureaucracies, persist. These institutions, far from collapsing, perpetuate an illusion of continuity. Their complicity reinforces the structures Hasina built, making her absence paradoxically more pronounced. In this sense, her symbolic presence haunts the nation's politics, raising doubts about whether genuine change is possible or if the illusion of her authority will endure.

The interim government's inefficiency and elitism further complicate this precarious moment. Its increasing connivance of, if not entanglement with, entrenched interests limits its capacity to enact transformative reforms, perpetuating the structures that enabled Hasina's authoritarian rule.

Historical reckonings and structural flaws

This moment must be contextualised within Bangladesh's broader historical trajectory. Sheikh Hasina's rule was characterised by consolidation of power, suppression of dissent, and the erosion of democratic institutions. Her escape represents not only a political rupture but also a profound challenge to the nation's collective psyche. It forces a reckoning with the deep-seated issues that allowed her authoritarian regime to thrive.

The remnants of Hasina's centralised power structure—entwined with businesses, civil and military bureaucracies, and law enforcement—pose a formidable challenge. These institutions must not merely adapt to her absence, but critically interrogate the systems that sustained her rule. Bangladesh's true challenge lies not in pursuing the illusory stability of her presence, but in confronting the foundational flaws that perpetuated her authority.

Beyond the illusion: Seizing the moment

The lessons of The Purloined Letter remind us that the endless pursuit of illusory truths delays meaningful progress. Bangladesh must look beyond Hasina's absence to address the systemic issues that sustained her rule. Only by doing so can the nation hope to transcend the shadow of her legacy and build a more accountable and democratic future.

The stakes are high, and the path ahead is fraught with uncertainty. Yet, within this uncertainty lies the potential for transformation—a chance to reclaim agency and forge a new political order. Hasina's escape, like the purloined letter, is a conspicuous truth resisting resolution. The pressing question remains: will Bangladesh seize this moment to confront its past and shape a new future, or remain trapped in cycles of deferred meaning and contested power?

The shadow of authority: Lacanian insights on deferred meaning

Lacan's notion of deferred meaning, grounded in the idea that meaning is always postponed through language and its inherent instability, provides a powerful lens through which to view the political situation in Bangladesh under Hasina's leadership. Her physical absence may be a clear reality, but the symbolic structures and institutions she built persist in shaping the political and social landscape. This creates a tension where the country is caught between the absence of a visible, authoritative figure and the continued, often oppressive, presence of the systems she put in place.

In Lacanian terms, Hasina's absence operates like the petit objet a, the object-cause of desire—an absence that nonetheless fuels desire and longing, as it remains unfulfilled. In this case, her absence becomes the catalyst for political stagnation and potential change. It paralyses the public, as they remain fixated on her legacy and the systems she left behind, unable to move past them. This paralysis is akin to the feeling of being trapped in the shadows of a once-dominant figure, where the country remains obsessed with a past it cannot escape.

Yet, Lacan also suggests that absence can open the door to a new kind of freedom. Just as Poe's The Purloined Letter remains hidden in plain sight, so too does the potential for transformation in Bangladesh. The systems that continue to operate in Hasina's name are not static—they are open to reinterpretation. But for this to happen, there must be a willingness to confront the shadows she left behind and embrace the ambiguity of her symbolic absence. The unresolved question is whether Bangladesh can move beyond the constraint of her legacy and reimagine its political future in a way that is not tied to her shadow.

This process of redefining the nation would require confronting the fragmented meanings that linger in the wake of Hasina's influence. Lacan's theory reminds us that meaning is never stable; it is in constant flux, deferred, and subject to reinterpretation. The challenge for Bangladesh lies in whether it can seize the opportunity created by the gap left by Hasina's absence to reconstruct its identity on its own terms, no longer defined by the shadow of its former leader. This involves not just dismantling the systems of power she established but also reimagining the underlying symbols that continue to shape its political consciousness. Only then can the country begin the difficult process of liberating itself from the ideological structures that still hold sway and begin anew in a post-Hasina era.

Dr Faridul Alam writes from New York City, US.​

 

[Saif]

Attacks on July uprisers: DU suspends 128 students

Dhaka University yesterday suspended 128 students over their alleged involvement in attacks on protesters during the student-led mass uprising from July 15 to August 5 on the university campus.

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Attacks on July uprisers: DU suspends 128 students

Photo: Prabir Das/Star

Dhaka University yesterday suspended 128 students over their alleged involvement in attacks on protesters during the student-led mass uprising from July 15 to August 5 on the university campus.

The decision was made at a syndicate meeting based on the report of a fact-finding committee formed to investigate the attacks.

A new probe committee has also been formed to further scrutinise the initial report to finalise a decision regarding the punishment of the students.

The committee, led by syndicate member Professor Tajmeri SA Islam, includes DU Faculty of Arts Dean Mohammad Siddiqur Rahman Khan, Sir AF Rahman Hall Provost Kazi Mahfuzul Islam Supon, DU Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed and others.

The suspension is not being considered a punishment, but a "measure" to ensure further investigations are conducted without interruption, according to Kazi Mahfuzul Islam Supon, convener of the fact-finding committee.

"The number of attackers mentioned in the fact-finding report is more than 128. The syndicate decided to suspend 128 DU students initially. A new probe committee has been formed to scrutinise the fact-finding report. The final decision on their punishment will come after the new committee submits its report," Supon told The Daily Star.

On March 13, when the fact-finding committee handed over the report to the DU vice-chancellor, Supon had told reporters that 122 DU students were found to be involved in the attacks.

The suspended students are reportedly affiliated with the banned student organisation Chhatra League. However, their names and identities could not be immediately confirmed.

Asked about the involvement of teachers, DU Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed said a separate committee is investigating their role in the attack.

Further action will be taken once their report is submitted.​

 

[Saif]

Commerce adviser compares Hasina's exit to Russell’s Viper disappearance

He further claimed that large-scale corruption, which previously led to the theft of Tk 28 lakh crore, is no longer occurring at the same level.

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Commerce adviser compares Hasina's exit to Russell’s Viper disappearance

Photo: Collected

Commerce Adviser Sk Bashir Uddin today compared Sheikh Hasina's departure --ending her more than 15-year rule in the face of a mass uprising -- to the disappearance of Russell's Viper, a venomous snake that frequently made headlines last year in central and southern Bangladesh.

"Sheikh Hasina's iron-fisted regime bowed out to a people's uprising and was forced to resign on August 5 before fleeing the country. This reminds me of Russell's Viper, which also disappeared from Bangladesh," said the adviser.

"One issue has come up several times in discussions here -- law and order, and corruption. When I hear these topics, I am reminded of Russell's Viper."

Hinting at the venomousness of the previous regime, he said that after Sheikh Hasina left the country, this snake also disappeared.

"I don't know why this is the case!" he wondered at a seminar organised by the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) at its auditorium in Dhaka.

Russell's Viper, which gained attention in previous years for deterring farmers from paddy fields and frightening people in rural areas, is often claimed to be the world's fifth most venomous snake.

There were reports of fatalities from snakebites. However, researchers argue that this species does not even rank among the 30 most venomous snakes in the world.

At the seminar, the adviser also stressed that advisory council members do not take financial benefits.

"The advisory council does not take any money. From the chief adviser to all other advisers, no one is here for financial gain," he said.

"These individuals did not come here for money. Our working relationship is transparent. We learn from one another and are working together. This itself is a sign of reduced corruption," he added.

He further claimed that large-scale corruption, which previously led to the theft of Tk 28 lakh crore, is no longer occurring at the same level.

"That level of theft is no longer happening. However, corruption has not been eradicated—it is quite difficult to eliminate," he said.

Among the most counterfeited items in the world, the US dollar ranks at the top, the adviser noted.

"This cannot be stopped overnight—it is a very challenging task. However, we have taken various initiatives to address these issues. Due to these measures, corruption has decreased, and it will continue to decline further in the future," he concluded.​