[🇧🇩] Everything about the interim government and its actions

[Saif]

আবারো সংখ্যা বাড়ছে উপদেষ্টা পরিষদে, আসছে নতুন শিক্ষা উপদেষ্টা

 

[Saif]

This is a highly politically motivated govt: Mahfuj Alam

Victorious forces of uprising running state affairs, says the info adviser

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This is a highly politically motivated govt: Mahfuj Alam
Victorious forces of uprising running state affairs, says the info adviser

Photo: PID

Information Adviser Mahfuj Alam today said the interim government is not an "apolitical" government rather it is a political government based on a political victory that defeated Awami League politically.

"The forces that triumphed the mass uprising, the victorious, are the ones running the country. This is a highly politically motivated government...," said Mahfuj.

The information adviser made these remarks while speaking to journalists, officials and employees of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) at its office this afternoon after inspecting its activities.

Mahfuj said many people have been saying why the interim government is not leaving quickly by just conducting an election. "However, what many have forgotten is that this government is one that has been established through the blood of many martyrs of uprising."

"The government may seem 'apolitical' due to the presence of technocrats and many other people, but in reality, it is a political one because it stands on a political victory. We are here following the political defeat of Awami League."

"In general, the goal of any political government is to serve its party, but we are fortunate here that this government does not have to serve any particular party rather it serves all the people regardless of their beliefs, ideologies and religions," said Mahfuj.

Addressing the current challenges faced by the government, the adviser said, "We are facing an 'information war' both from within the country and from external sources, including India. We are in a state of war."

"Many of us may think we are relaxed, but those who were defeated are not relaxed -- especially in terms of fighting through information," he said.

BSS, as the national news agency, is not only responsible for providing information to local media but it also serves as a benchmark for news dissemination, with global media outlets often quoting its reports.

"So, how BSS presents news actually represents Bangladesh," said the information adviser expecting the agency's responsible role in portraying the country accurately on the global stage.

The adviser assured the BSS authority of providing all-out support to develop its quality as a news agency. "Another point of my visit to ministry's affiliated institutions is to hear your needs... What kind of work you want to do that may be held back by bureaucratic complexities," he added.

"People recognise BSS as the government's spokesperson, and thus, like other countries' agencies, it is expected that BSS will be quoted as news source by international media," said the adviser.

"At least in South Asia, BSS should be an agency worthy of being used as reference. As a government entity, it should maintain the standard," he added.

Mahbub Morshed said the agency has news exchange agreement with major global news agencies, including AFP and Xinhua.

The agency has been working relentlessly to improve its quality in line with global practice and hopes to make more agreements with other renowned news agencies, said the BSS chief editor.

BSS Managing Editor Fazlul Huq, Chief News Editor (English) Morshadur Rahman, Chief News Editor (Bangla) Md Aktaruzzaman, Chief Reporter (English) Md Manikul Azad, Chief Reporter (Bangla) Didarul Alam, journalists, officials and employees were also present at the time.​

 

[Saif]

We're lucky to have a sea: CA

Noting that Nepal and the seven sister states of India have no connectivity via sea, Yunus stressed the need for using Bangladesh seaports for mutual benefit

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We're lucky to have a sea: CA
Chief Adviser Yunus visiting China and Japan

File photo

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today said the people of Bangladesh are lucky to be connected by the Bay, which helps promote trade with different countries.

"We are lucky enough as we have a sea [Bay of Bengal]. The sea is very crucial for business," he said while exchanging views with local people at BIAM auditorium in Cox's Bazar.

Highlighting the marine potential, the chief adviser said Bangladesh has a long coastline and it is quite possible to build seaports anywhere along the coastline of Chattogram.

He said a massive change has been brought to Cox's Bazar. It is not only a tourist town but also a centre of economy.

Noting that Nepal and the seven sister states of India have no connectivity via sea, Yunus stressed the need for using Bangladesh seaports for mutual benefit.

"We can do business... The fates of all will change," he said.

He asked salt producers to find out whether foreign importers show any interest in importing salt from Bangladesh as the country now has the capacity to export salt that the farmers produce in Cox's Bazar.

He inquired about the potential of wind energy as power is being generated using windmills in Cox's Bazar on pilot basis.

Asking locals to utilise all available opportunities, Yunus said Cox's Bazar is a big part of the economy and it could be an ICT town as well.

He wanted to know from locals the impact of Rohingya influx on local community.

During the meeting, people from all walks of life gave different proposals and demands before the chief adviser for the development of Cox's Bazar.​

 

[Saif]

Professor Yunus’s government: Are we blaming the victim?

Professor Yunus inherits a nation in turmoil, balancing hope and challenges in Bangladesh

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Professor Yunus’s government: Are we blaming the victim?

Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of Bangladesh interim government, gestures to the Rohingya people as he attends Ramadan Solidarity Iftar with them at the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 14, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS

Never have I been more hopeful about Bangladesh—Professor Yunus is at the country's helm. When enlightenment, accomplishment, and diligence culminate, a Professor Yunus comes along. His potential to transform the nation is undisputed. Never have I been more upset about Bangladesh, either—Professor Yunus has replaced Sheikh Hasina, who was a dictator and left the country in a mess. What cancer does to the human body, dictatorship does the same to a country. Cancer disrupts the regular functioning of the human body until it becomes completely dysfunctional. Dictatorship, likewise, cracks every code of economic, judicial, electoral, and bureaucratic conduct, when a country is primed to crumble under its own weight. When Hasina fled to India on August 5, 2024, she left behind a wasteland of mismanagement and miseries that Professor Yunus inherited. Whatever his government did—and does—doesn't seem adequate. People complain. That's understandable.

The law and order situation, for example, seems to have deteriorated since Professor Yunus's government took over. Statistics corroborate such a claim, too. Attributing the failure entirely to this government is simplistic. Dictatorship thrives on accruing and abusing absolute power, as Hasina did. The country was already reeling under three sham elections, enforced disappearances, mindless extrajudicial killings, and co-opted judges in pliant courts. Justice was a commodity on sale, and anyone with money and political connections could buy his version of it. Hasina's police were ruthless to the core. The shooting in July and August last year that killed and crippled thousands of people across the country was the final nail in the coffin of the police. Police have been plagued by a deficit of trust and an erasure of authority since. They are still not fully functional. Under such circumstances, Professor Yunus's government faced logistical nightmares in establishing discipline, as it took over on August 8, 2024. The context that has created the current disorder is more complex than a leadership failure of a government having inherited a failing state.

Responsibility yet rested on the current government to restore law and order destroyed by the dictatorship of 15 years. The army swung into action with magistracy. Police and paramilitary joined hands as they gained confidence and credibility. Crime and violence didn't disappear altogether, as they never do in any functional society. Bangladesh suddenly didn't shift from a safety haven to a brutal hell, either. Yet panic and paranoia seemed to have gripped the whole country, especially following February 17, when a bus traveling from Dhaka to Rajshahi faced robbery, followed by the alleged rape of at least one woman, on the Dhaka-Tangail highway. As the news surfaced on electronic and print portals, the nation cringed in fear and repulsion. BBC (Bangla) followed up on the news immediately, as it claimed that no one saw anyone being raped. A passenger onboard the bus informed BBC that a woman may have been raped, as they heard her screaming. Prothom Alo published an investigative report on the news on February 27, having talked to the lady, who was apparently the rape victim. She was not raped on the bus that night, she confirmed. She blamed the media for spreading false news. The government had to bear the brunt of carefully crafted propaganda, anyway.

Why did our media go gaga on this piece of news, when they knew that misinformation from and beyond Bangladesh by the agents of the fallen regime smacked of the renewal of fascism? Our press apparently seems free following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina. Unfiltered news, along with misleading and sensational headlines even from frontline news portals, have also been alarmingly on the rise recently. What gets printed and telecast contributes to manufacturing consent. Some news portals, for example, have already attempted to prove that Professor Yunus's government is Islamist, so the frequency of attacks on the people of the minority has increased during his tenure.

Subho Basu, an associate professor of History and Classical Studies at McGill University, discredited such a complaint upfront, as he claimed in his interview with The New Yorker in August 2024, "he [Professor Yunus] had nothing to do with Islamism." He further claimed that minorities are always targeted in South Asia, when there is upheaval. Because the Sheikh Hasina regime was identified with India, and a significant percentage of the minority are the supporters of the fallen regime that also had leaders at the local levels from the minority community, targeting supporters and leaders of the fallen regime has gained a communal slant, which some right-wing media in India have magnified, he claims. This government is not complicit in minority repression whatsoever, but the governments that preceded it were.

Any attempt to whitewash a government, including Professor Yunus's government, is infantile—angels and prophets have never run a government. Blaming the government for everything is impulsive, too. This government is the outcome of a revolution. Following a revolution, as history teaches us, people's expectations soar. Chaos erupts. Uncertainties loom. Pessimism grips. And a post-revolution government totters. Professor Yunus's government has been through this typical phase. It's not a weak government, as it is popularly dubbed. Its strength is fortitude. Its skill is negotiation. Almost everyone seems to have a demand following Hasina's departure (I have a demand, too. Where is a commission on education, Professor Yunus?), and they want their demand fulfilled immediately. They reach the government following protests and road blockades. The government negotiates and settles. However disruptive the hundreds of protests the government has had to face already, this is democracy in action. Suppressing it is fascistic. Attendant chaos towards democracy is inevitable, as Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci famously said, "The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the time of monsters." If we are frightened by the monsters around us, it's not pathological. Most of them are, however, the harbingers of hope and healing for the reformed Bangladesh in the times ahead.

Some of these monsters are not agents of hope and healing, unfortunately. Dictators depart and die, but their legacy lingers. The more chronic a dictatorship is, the more expansive and intractable it is. Having ruled for 15 years, Hasina left the country upended. Hasina was psychologically deranged. Leading a country was not her call. In the worst-case scenario, someone of Hasina's class and calibre could have been someone else's personal problem. She must never have been allowed to become a national problem. Because she was, the crisis is intergenerational and transnational. A family, for example, that lost someone or had someone with life-altering injuries in the July Revolution (approximately 1,400 people were killed and thousands were injured, the UN Fact-Finding Report, published in February 2025, confirmed) will have to endure the loss for generations. Our relationship with India is a political bloody shirt that triggers statements and actions from both sides as if we are eternal enemies. It's apparently clear that our ties with India during Hasina's regime were lopsided and un-examined to create an impression that Bangladesh was India's vassal state. Some monsters use these fault lines to destabilise Bangladesh, which is not yet on an even keel since Hasina's departure. False-flag movements and mobs are Hasina's ghost re-surfaced. Professor Yunus's government is more helpless than responsible in such situations.

Bangladesh has been through a phase of transition, so the situations are often volatile—sometimes, even dispiriting. Frustrated, we forget that Professor Yunus's government has been through hell already, but it's still active and advancing. He is focused on his agendas, mainly the reforms. His clean-up crew (who we euphemistically call the advisers) are honest and diligent. I'm not convinced we would run from this crisis to a catastrophe. What distracts me is that some zombie politicians remind us—every day, after every nanosecond—that this is not an elected government. It is! The uprising was the election. Blood was the vote. Thinking otherwise is suicidal, for it undermines the government and belies the spirit of the uprising, along with causing tensions for the people to own the government and the government to own the people. This is NOT a placeholder government. It is a government as independent and empowered as any elected government is. While nitpicking on Professor Yunus's government is rational, cooperating with it is ethical and patriotic. His faults and failures are often not the results of his decisions and actions. He is a victim, as we all are—were—because of the buggers and muggers Hasina left the country with.

Believing in Professor Yunus's abilities, therefore, seems sensible. That's what Professor Amartya Sen reminds us in his recent interview with the PTI, "I have great confidence in Yunus' abilities." So do we!

Dr Mohammad Shamsuzzaman is associate professor at the Department of English and Modern Languages in North South University (NSU).​

 

[Saif]

Anyone now can criticise govt without fear: Touhid

Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain yesterday said that one of the successes of the interim government is that anyone can now criticize it freely

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Anyone now can criticise govt without fear: Touhid

Photo: BSS/File

Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain yesterday said that one of the successes of the interim government is that anyone can now criticize it freely.

He acknowledged that the government frequently faces criticism regarding its performance.

"Could you have criticised the government in power a year ago or even eight months ago as freely as you can today? If nothing else, this government has achieved at least this: anyone can criticise without fear. This is the essence of democracy," said Touhid.

He was speaking at the 27th anniversary celebration of the Diplomatic Correspondents' Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) at a city hotel yesterday.

Foreign diplomats, political leaders, and journalists attended the event.

Touhid said that Bangladesh is currently undergoing a critical phase. In line with the people's aspirations, the government is striving to implement reforms.

While he could not guarantee that the interim government would fulfill all the people's aspirations, he noted that it is working to establish a path toward a democratic and discrimination-free society.

He further explained that some reforms must be completed before the elections, while others will continue after. The government is committed to implementing these reforms swiftly to ensure timely elections and the smooth transfer of power to the elected government.

The event was attended by Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin, BNP Standing Committee member Amir Khhasru Mahmud Chowdhury, BIMSTEC Secretary General Indra Mani Pandey, Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma, Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen, EU Ambassador Michael Miller, UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis, senior journalists, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, and DCAB members.

DCAB President AKM Moinuddin and General Secretary Arifuzzaman Mamun also addressed the event.​

 

[Saif]

How concerned should interim govt be about Tulsi’s remarks on 'minority persecution'?

US National Security Director Tulsi Gabbard made comments about the persecution of minorities and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh during a journalist’s question in Delhi. These remarks have sparked significant discussion in the media of both countries.

en.prothomalo.com

How concerned should interim govt be about Tulsi’s remarks on 'minority persecution'?
Hasan Ferdous
New York
Published: 22 Mar 2025, 20: 30

Tulsi Gabbard Reuters

US National Security Director Tulsi Gabbard made comments about the persecution of minorities and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh during a journalist’s question in Delhi. These remarks have sparked significant discussion in the media of both countries.

Indian media has long portrayed Bangladesh as a fundamentalist and pro-Pakistan state, aligning with the Indian administration’s stance on Professor Muhammad Yunus’ government. For them, Tulsi’s comments are like striking gold. One newspaper even commented that Professor Yunus’ government is trembling with fear due to Tulsi's remarks.

However, Tulsi Gabbard did not say anything that President Trump or a White House spokesperson hadn’t stated before. In a written comment to Prothom Alo, Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Washington’s Wilson Center, described Tulsi’s comments as "familiar and old."

"Tulsi Gabbard herself stated that the issue of religious minorities in Bangladesh has been a longstanding concern. The key word here is 'longstanding' (Tulsi’s own term). Yet critics of Bangladesh’s interim government have used her remarks to condemn this government," Kugelman explained.

For a long time, the US has criticised Bangladesh for human rights violations against minorities. Just a week before leaving office, former President Joe Biden expressed not just concern but warned that the Yunus government would be held accountable for any violence against minorities.

Kugelman told Prothom Alo, "US concern over minorities in Bangladesh is not new. During Sheikh Hasina’s tenure, the US has expressed this concern on multiple occasions. Over a decade ago, the US administration expressed worry over how rising religious extremism under Hasina’s rule endangered minorities and progressive groups."

In 2015, during Sheikh Hasina’s government, at least five 'secular bloggers' and publishers were killed in attacks by extremists. The US condemned these incidents and announced plans to offer political asylum to bloggers facing threats.

Kugelman believes, "Some may conclude that the Trump administration will align with India’s stance on Bangladesh, based on Tulsi Gabbard’s remarks. However, I think Tulsi’s comments are not just about the Yunus government but also refer to multiple governments in Bangladesh’s history, including India’s favored Awami League government."

Sheikh Hasina and her supporters abroad had hoped that Donald Trump would take action against Professor Yunus’ interim government. Previously, Trump had expressed concern over reports of minority persecution in Bangladesh in a comment on his 'X' handle. Indian media at the time amplified this statement with equally sensational coverage.

Supporters of the past Sheikh Hasina government, living abroad, were most excited by this Indian media coverage. During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mid-February visit to Washington, these supporters welcomed him with large placards and banners, expecting Modi to help secure US sanctions against Bangladesh during his meeting with Trump.

However, this did not happen. Instead, President Trump directly dismissed claims by an Indian journalist that the US 'deep state' played any role in Hasina’s government’s fall.

Tulsi Gabbard’s comments have also stirred excitement among US-based Awami League leaders and supporters. An Awami League leader told a New York-based Bengali television channel, "The Trump administration will soon arrest Professor Yunus, similar to how former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was captured and imprisoned."

Two days ago, during a routine briefing at the US State Department, a spokesperson stated that the US government is satisfied with the measures the Yunus government has taken to ensure the safety of minorities.​

 

[Saif]

What could have been better than the Yunus government?

Professor Muhammad Yunus took over responsibility as chief advisor of the interim government on 8 August 2024 at a juncture when extreme disorder prevailed all around -- the administration had come to a standstill, the law and order forces were inactive, educational institutions were besieged by...

en.prothomalo.com

What could have been better than the Yunus government?
Sohrab Hassan
Published: 22 Mar 2025, 17: 58

Chief Adviser professor Muhammad Yunus File photo

Professor Muhammad Yunus took over responsibility as chief advisor of the interim government on 8 August 2024 at a juncture when extreme disorder prevailed all around -- the administration had come to a standstill, the law and order forces were inactive, educational institutions were besieged by unrest and public life had been pitched into uncertainty.

Muhammad Yunus had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in Paris on 5 August when the Awami League government fell in face of a student-mass uprising. He had no idea that he would be taking over responsibility of running the country. The student leaders contacted him for the first time that evening.

Could there have been any alternative to Muhammad Yunus as chief advisor? Could anyone else bring the conflicting parties to one table?

After repeated requests from the student leaders he finally acquiesced to take over responsibility of the government. A detailed description of the interaction with Professor Yunus from Dhaka appears in Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain's book, 'July: Matribhumi Othoba Mrityu', published by Prothoma Prokashon.

The student leaders had made a right move that day. At that moment of uncertainty, the country needed a person who had the trust of the majority of the people in the country and who also had unquestionable credibility on an international level. It is also doubtful whether the political parties, who had an active role in the movement, would have accepted anyone else other than Professor Yunus.

Now seven months on, we have to review the success and failures of the interim government in context of our socioeconomic and political realities. We also have to keep in mind what our elected and unelected governments did in the past.

Bangladesh is the world's most densely populated country. No other country has around 180 million people living in an area of 56,000 square miles. The poverty rate here is 18 per cent, 30 per cent of the people are deprived of education, the number of landless and homeless is on a steady rise, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

An elected government comes to power for a five-year term. It is easy for them to take up short, mid and long-term plans. That is not possible on the part of an interim government. And on top of that, when the Yunus government took over power, law and order was in shambles.

Under the circumstances, the first and foremost responsibility of the interim government was to normalise the law and order situation. The second task was to restore order to the economy and take control of the market. The government has been somewhat successful in the latter. It has been possible to restore order to the banking sector which the previous government had taken to the brink of disaster.

Muhammad Yunus formed his government mostly with persons who had been outside politics and the administration. Naturally they met with obstacles at every step in running the administration and they are still struggling. Due to age and experience, the performance of all the members of the advisory council is not the same. While some are active in running their ministries, others have shortcomings, it is felt.

Muhammad Yunus has admitted that he and most of the advisors in his government have no experience in running the country. If any ministry functions well, the concerned advisor can take credit, and is doing so too. But if any ministry is not up to the mark, the responsibility falls on the government, to be more precise, on the chief advisor.

Many quarters complain that the government is not running the country properly. That is not a baseless contention. The inactivity of certain advisors is irksome. But the question is, could there have been any alternative to Muhammad Yunus as chief advisor? Could anyone else bring the conflicting parties to one table?

The big challenge for the interim government was to bring the various parties and quarters who had taken part in the movement, to one table. They have managed to do so more or else successfully. Albeit late, the national consensus commission has begun talks with the political parties.
The armed forces had a role to play, directly or indirectly, in the previous political changes that transpired in Bangladesh. The difference is, while the army had a positive role in the 5 August changeover, they did not interfere in the civil administration.

Chief of army staff Waker-Uz-Zaman repeatedly said they had no wish to come to power. It is also doubtful whether the civil government would get this continued support from the army had Muhammad Yunus not ben there. Even so, there are all sorts of propaganda and provocations aimed at the army and the army chief. Some are attempting to place the army and the interim government in confrontation. Such moves can push the country towards further instability.

The Nobel laureate for peace Muhammad Yunus had caught international attention too. In September last year, while joining the UN General Assembly, Professor Muhammad Yunus met with the heads of government and states of 12 countries, including the US president at the time Joe Biden, and the heads of various international agencies. He also took part in 40 high level meetings. The visit of UN secretary general to Bangladesh Antonio Guterres will hopefully play a positive role in bringing the nearly obscured Rohingya problem back to the attention of the world.

After coming to power, the interim government had to face several unwarranted situations. One was the floods in the eastern region of the country that wiped out vast expanses of crops. The market had been restive for quite a few months and now things are normalising. The prices of essentials during Ramzan are in control, unlike the previous years. The food stock is satisfactory too.

Despite these successes, the law and order situation remains a matter of public concern. There are incidents of robbery, mugging, killing and rape. Mob violence is a new phenomenon since after 5 August.

During the rule of Awami League, innocent people would be tagged with the BNP-Jamaat label and oppressed. After the uprising, the ire of the students and the common people was directed towards many ministers, MPs and leaders of the fallen Awami League government and their homes were attacked and damaged. And many innocent people were tagged as accomplices of the autocrats and their houses, offices and business establishments were attacked. In some places the religious minorities were victimised too. If anyone commits a crime, it is the duty of a citizen to hand him over to the law enforcement. But if that is not done and law is taken into one's own hands in the name of student leadership or anyone else, extreme disorder breaks out in society. I feel it is a failure of the government not to be able to take firm action in this regard.

The interim government had delineated three broad objectives -- the trial of the killings and torture that took place during the July uprising, state reforms to prevent a return of an autocratic system, and free and fair elections to establish democratic governance. But unless they can fix the law and order situation and if mob violence continues, it is not likely that any of these objectives can be reached.

So the government must be sterner in protecting the lives and property of each and every citizen. They have to change the old manner of responding to the exaggerations of foreign quarters about security of the minorities. The government must create an environment where no one can find scope for complaint. They must also remain alert against communal instigators within and outside the country.

Despite many limitations, there are two positive aspects of the Muhammad Yunus government that need to be mentioned. One is, teamwork or integrated programmes. Almost all the previous governments were individual-centric -- nothing would move without the head of the government. The advisors of the interim government run their ministries independently. Secondly, no matter what criticism there may be against the advisors of this government, till date there have been no allegations of corruption against them. That is of colossal importance in the socioeconomic structure of Bangladesh.

* Sohrab Hassan is joint editor of Prothom Alo and a poet

* This column appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir​

 

[Saif]

Interim government takes 4 legal steps to stop administrations from blocking internet access again

The interim government is taking legal steps to prevent any future administration from shutting down internet services in Bangladesh, said Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, the chief advisor’s special assistant on posts, telecommunications and ICT affairs, reports bdnews24.com. Speaking to reporters at a b

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Interim government takes 4 legal steps to stop administrations from blocking internet access again
Published :
Apr 07, 2025 23:20
Updated :
Apr 07, 2025 23:20

The interim government is taking legal steps to prevent any future administration from shutting down internet services in Bangladesh, said Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, the chief advisor’s special assistant on posts, telecommunications and ICT affairs, reports bdnews24.com.

Speaking to reporters at a briefing on Monday, following the first day of the investment summit, he said four specific measures were being implemented in response to concerns raised by young entrepreneurs and investors.

“In response to a question about internet shutdowns, we have stated our clear position,” Faiz said.

“The chief advisor has instructed that internet access must never be suspended. We’ve learnt from the July Uprising, when the shutdown affected freelancers and businesspeople, and even led to a downgrade in Bangladesh’s banking credit rating.”

He continued: “Based on that experience, the interim government has decided it will never impose an internet shutdown. We are also implementing safeguards so that future governments cannot do so either. We’ve outlined four such steps.”

The first step, according to Faiz, is to recognise internet access as a citizen’s right in the upcoming Cyber Safety Ordinance.

“We’re planning to pass the ordinance this week or next, and it will include internet access as a recognised right of the people — which was a major demand from our investors,” he said.

As the second step, Faiz announced the cancellation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that allowed the ministry to initiate shutdowns.

The third step relates to the government’s new non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) guidelines, drawn up during Starlink’s registration process.

“There is no provision in that framework for the government to suspend internet access,” Faiz said.

The final step, he said, involves amending the Telecommunications Act to remove the power to shut down internet or gateway services.

“The clause in the 2001 Telecommunications Act that allowed such actions is being revised. Once amended, it will no longer be legally possible for any future government to suspend internet access.”

He added: “We’ve tried to present investor and business concerns around internet shutdowns in the clearest possible terms.”

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION LAW DRAFT DUE IN MAY

Faiz also addressed concerns about the Personal Data Protection Act, assuring that a full draft would be made public by May.

“There were questions about the Data Protection Act. We clarified that any business group which hasn’t received the draft yet will get it by April,” he said.

“You know it has been available online over the past two weeks, and we have sent it to select business communities, including the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) and financial law professionals,” he added.

Their feedback is now being reviewed.

“The law will be updated based on their opinions, and the draft will be published online again by the end of April,” Faiz said.

“We have made a preliminary commitment to the young entrepreneurs and investors that the draft will be fully open for public consultation by May.”​

 

[Saif]

Khalilur Rahman appointed as National Security Adviser

Chief Adviser’s High Representative on Rohingya and Priority Issues Dr Khalilur Rahman has been appointed as the National Security Adviser. The Cabinet Division issued a notification on Wednesday in this regard, according to local news portals. Dr Khalilur Rahman will perform as National Se

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Khalilur Rahman appointed as National Security Adviser
FE ONLINE DESK
Published :
Apr 09, 2025 21:22
Updated :
Apr 09, 2025 22:09

Chief Adviser’s High Representative on Rohingya and Priority Issues Dr Khalilur Rahman has been appointed as the National Security Adviser.

The Cabinet Division issued a notification on Wednesday in this regard, according to local news portals.

Dr Khalilur Rahman will perform as National Security Adviser by assisting the chief adviser in accomplishing duties related to the Ministry of Defence along with his existing responsibilities as the chief adviser’s high representative.

Through the notification, the designation of Khalilur Rahman has been revised to ‘National Security Adviser and High Representative on Rohingya Issues.’​