News Brief
Bangladesh: Yunus-Led Interim Government Faces Internal Rift Amid Dispute Over Adviser Loyalties
Head of Interim Government in Bangladesh Muhammad Yunus (X) (Representative Image)
Tensions inside Bangladesh’s interim government deepened this week as a senior adviser publicly dismissed claims from student leaders that members of Muhammad Yunus’s cabinet were seeking a “safe exit” from power — the latest sign of strain within the coalition that replaced Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League after the 2024 violent protests.
“I am not seeking any exit at all,” said Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser for environment and climate-change affairs, during a press interaction on Wednesday, India Today reported.
Her remarks directly countered accusations from Nahid Islam, convenor of the National Citizen Party (NCP) — the student-led movement that propelled Yunus to power.
Islam had earlier alleged that some advisers were prioritising personal security over public duty.
“It was a big mistake to trust many members of the advisory council. We were betrayed after placing our confidence in them. Many advisers have liaised with different political parties; they are now thinking of their own safe exit,” he said in a televised interview on Saturday.
Although Islam did not name any advisers or identify the parties involved, his comments triggered speculation of back-channel negotiations and widening distrust between the NCP and senior members of the interim cabinet.
The dispute escalated further when another NCP leader, Sarjis Alam, declared on Tuesday that “the only exit that remains open for advisers is death.”
Hasan rejected the rhetoric, reaffirming her allegiance to the country and to Yunus’s administration.
“I will spend the rest of my life in Bangladesh,” she said, urging NCP figures to clarify their statements.
The revolt toppled the Awami League government on 5 August 2024, forcing then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee Dhaka.
Yunus, returning from Paris three days later, assumed leadership of the interim administration and referred to the student leaders as his “appointers.”
His cabinet included three student representatives as advisers, among them Nahid Islam, who subsequently left the post to head the NCP.
In May, responding to NCP pressure, the Yunus government banned all Awami League activities and initiated trials against its senior leadership — including Hasina — for alleged crimes committed during the 2024 crackdown.
Hundreds of party members were detained, while thousands went underground as the NCP vowed to make the Awami League “irrelevant.”
The crisis deepened again on Wednesday, when a special tribunal in Dhaka ordered the arrest of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and 29 others on charges of crimes against humanity linked to alleged enforced disappearances during her tenure.
