Mohammad Yunus Is Rattled By Tulsi Gabbard’s Statement On Minority Persecution And Islamism In Bangladesh — Here's Why

Bangladesh’s de facto Prime Minister, Mohammad Yunus, and his band of ‘advisors’ (de facto ministers) who run the ‘interim government’ in Bangladesh are thoroughly rattled by the criticism levelled by US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, on her current three-day visit to India. 

Gabbard has expressed concern over the persecution of minorities--Hindus, Christians and Buddhists--in Bangladesh and the rise in hardline Islamist forces striving for the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate. 

Yunus and his colleagues in Dhaka believe that Gabbard’s statement on Bangladesh is based on “misinformation” provided to her by New Delhi.  

India’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, who met Gabbard in New Delhi Sunday (March 18), discussed the current situation in Bangladesh with her. 

A top officer of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) who was privy to the proceedings of the Doval-Gabbard meeting told Swarajya that Doval provided “solid information” on the rise of Islamist forces in Bangladesh under the patronage of the Yunus administration. 

“Details of Islamist terrorists set free from jail by the Yunus administration, the free hand given to Islamist parties and groups since the fall of the Hasina government, the close links between members of the Yunus administration and Islamist groups, the patronage provided to regressive Islamist forces and the close ties that have developed between Islamist parties and groups in Bangladesh with global Islamist terror outfits were shared with the US DNI,” said the top-ranking IB officer. 

The persecution faced by minorities in the country not only after the fall of the Hasina government, but even since 1971 (when Bangladesh was born) was also discussed in detail between the two. 

“It was pointed out to the US DNI that though Bangladesh has always tried to project itself as a ‘secular’ nation, the fact remains that the population of religious minorities has been declining consistently and sharply. Hindus formed 13.5 per cent of the population in Bangladesh in 1974, and account for about six per cent of the population now. The same is the case with other religious minorities. The population of religious minorities has declined because they have been killed, forcibly converted to Islam or driven away from Bangladesh,” the IB officer added. 

It is learnt that a detailed presentation was made to Gabbard on the various forms of persecution--overt and covert--of religious minorities in Bangladesh. 

Apart from physical attacks, destruction of their places of worship, atrocities on women belonging to minority communities and forcible conversions to Islam, Gabbard was also given a thorough presentation about the subtle forms of persecution like discrimination in education, employment and businesses that religious minorities face in Bangladesh. 

The close links between Islamist parties and groups like the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, the Hefazat-e-Islam and Islami Oikyo Jote with Pakistani and global terror groups, the efforts by the present government in Bangladesh to forge close ties with Pakistan’s ISI and the dangers that pose to the security of South Asia, and the growing Islamic radicalisation in Bangladesh were also highlighted to Gabbard. 

“A very detailed presentation was offered to Gabbard and she followed in very intently. The danger of Bangladesh turning into another Islamist hub, and the destabilising effect that would have on regional and global security, as well as the threat that Bangladesh’s Islamist trajectory can pose to US security and strategic interests were also highlighted,” the IB officer told Swarajya. 

The outcome of this was not only the statement that Gabbard made subsequently about persecution of religious minorities in Bangladesh and the sharp Islamist turn the country has taken, but also the decision to set up a semi-formal mechanism to share real-time information and intelligence with the US on developments in Bangladesh. 

“Since Bangladesh has become a geography of concern for the shared security and strategic interests of the USA and India, the two countries have now decided to set up a dedicated channel for exchange of information and intelligence on Bangladesh. This decision was taken at the meeting between Doval and Gabbard,” the IB officer said. 

The information provided by India on Bangladesh will be sent, real-time and without any bureaucratic or institutional vetting, to Gabbard. This will preclude any suppression or dilution of information by vested interests within the US intelligence-security establishment, as happens often.

Gabbard, it is learnt, encouraged Doval to share sensitive and important information directly with her. An official in her office has been designated as the exclusive point of contact for New Delhi. 

More than Gabbard’s statement criticising Bangladesh, this is what has completely unnerved Yunus and his colleagues, as well the Islamists under their patronage in that country. 

“The close cooperation between the USA and India on security and intelligence is unprecedented. But what is of grave concern for Bangladesh is the decision taken that India will keep a close vigil on Bangladesh and report on developments in our country to the USA’s DNI. India will, of course, look at developments in Bangladesh from its own biased perspective and the information it will provide to the top echelons of the US administration will also be biased. That is of great concern for us,” a former officer of Bangladesh’s National Security Intelligence (NSI), the premier civilian intelligence outfit that reports directly to Yunus, told Swarajya over phone from Dhaka. 

It is learnt that immediately after Gabbard’s statements Monday (March 17), Yunus spoke to foreign affairs advisor (minister) Mohammad Touhid Hossain and others to discuss ways to contain the fallout of Gabbard’s criticism. 

Hossain, it is learnt, advocated issuing a mild statement denying the charges made by the US DNI. But other colleagues of Yunus, including former leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Students’ Movement (ADSM) that led the public uprising against Sheikh Hasina government at the behest of the US Democratic establishment and some US and European bodies, wanted a strong pushback. 

Ultimately, Yunus went along with his Islamist hardliners and his office issued a strong rebuttal to Gabbard’s charges. 

Stating that the Bangladesh government “noted with deep concern and distress the remarks made by DNI Tulsi Gabbard”, the statement said that Gabbard’s statement “is both misleading and damaging to the image and reputation of Bangladesh, a nation whose traditional practice of Islam has been famously inclusive and peaceful and that has made remarkable strides in its fight against extremism and terrorism”. 

“Gabbard's comments are not based on any evidence or specific allegations. They paint an entire nation with a broad and unjustified brush,” the statement from Dhaka said. 

“Political leaders and public figures should base their statements, especially about the most sensitive issues, on actual knowledge and take care not to reinforce harmful stereotypes, fan fears, and potentially even stoke sectarian tensions,” the statement said in a direct and blunt criticism of Gabbard.

The statement issued by Yunus’ office is high on bravado and based on domestic compulsions, but cannot conceal the jitters that Gabbard’s statements triggered in Dhaka. 

“The Yunus administration is shaken by Gabbard’s criticism. It never expected the US DNI to make such a critical statement that mirrors the narrative crafted by New Delhi about Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina fled to India,” said the NSI officer who retired from the agency two years ago but maintains close links with the agency that’s headed by Major General Abu Mohammad Sarwar Farid, a serving Bangladesh Army officer. 

What is especially unnerving for Dhaka is the close cooperation that is being forged between the security-intelligence establishments of India and USA. 

“An inkling about this was provided when President Donald Trump indicated that he would leave Bangladesh affairs to Prime Minister Modi (during his meeting with Modi at the White House). That meant that the USA would adopt a hands-off approach towards Bangladesh and be happy with India playing a dominant role in South Asia. It meant that the USA would defer to India as far as South Asia, especially Bangladesh, is concerned,” said the NSI officer whose first cousin is a Brigadier General in an important staff position in the Bangladesh Army. 

However, Yunus and his colleagues never thought that things would roll as far as the US DNI issuing statements extremely critical of Bangladesh from Indian soil. 

“This (Gabbard’s criticism) was beyond expectations. After President Trump made that statement about Bangladesh, our diplomats reached out to various people in the USA and also to the Democratic establishment to put forth Bangladesh’s point of view. But it is now apparent that Washington will go by what India says about Bangladesh,” a senior police officer attached to the National Committee for Intelligence Coordination (NCIC) which functions under the direct supervision of Yunus’ office told Swarajya from Dhaka. 

Dhaka is also scrambling to not only contain the damage caused by Gabbard’s criticism, but also “counter any more moves by India to push its false narrative about Bangladesh,” the senior police officer said. 

It is learnt that Yunus and others in the government, especially the country’s diplomats, have reached out to sections of the security-intelligence establishment in the USA that had been sympathetic to Bangladesh. 

Yunus has personally dialled his friends in the USA, including the Clintons and powerful entities like George Soros and his son Alexander who he is very close to. Yunus, it is learnt, is pleading with them for help to put forth Dhaka’s viewpoint to the Trump administration. 

However, Yunus has not met with any success and is not likely to as well because his friends in the USA have little or no influence or ties with the Trump administration. 

Even those in the US security-intelligence establishment who were close to the Democrats and the Biden administration are either lying low or on their way out. No one in ‘Foggy Bottom’ (as the Washington DC area housing the White House and the country’s most powerful establishments is known as) will stick his neck out for Dhaka. 

But the Yunus administration won’t give up. The NCIC officer told Swarajya that Dhaka is planning to take up the issue with friendly nations like Turkiye which has reasonably good ties with the USA. 

However, a realisation that Bangladesh will have to live with greater and more critical scrutiny of its internal developments by Washington, which will tend to view Bangladesh through New Delhi’s eyes, is dawning on the ruling dispensation in Dhaka.