A year after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled Dhaka in the wake of a student-led mass uprising on August 5, 2024, Bangladesh is still struggling to rebuild its political and administrative institutions, says former ambassador M. Humayun Kabir.
Speaking to The Gist, Kabir — a former envoy to the U.S., Nepal, Australia, and New Zealand, and now President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute — described the Hasina years as a period marked by “badly managed” elections, massive corruption, huge capital flight, and the politicization of state institutions. The collapse of police, judicial, and civil service systems left the interim government facing “the most widespread destruction since independence in 1971.”
Despite these challenges, Kabir credited the interim administration with stabilizing the economy — reviving the banking sector, mobilizing remittances, lowering inflation, and slowly moving toward restoring growth. He also cited the publication of a comprehensive human rights report by the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s Office cataloguing widespread violations under the previous regime, and the initiation of constitutional, judicial, administrative and police reforms as positive moves, most of which have been agreed upon by major political parties. The International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has also opened proceedings against those allegedly involved in committing serious crimes.
However, he conceded that “government communications is not up to the mark and that more regular public engagement could have built trust. Public expectations remain high, but rebuilding institutions cannot be done overnight.”
On India–Bangladesh relations, Kabir said New Delhi had “failed to understand and appreciate the huge shift” in Bangladeshi politics. He pointed to the widespread public perceptions that India had backed election manipulation under Hasina, and criticized a section of Indian media, political and social media activists for creating fake narratives and spreading misinformation against Bangladesh, which fuel mistrust.
While acknowledging isolated incidents of attacks on minorities during the initial hours of change, he maintained that people from all walks of life, including the government, armed forces, political party activists, students, civil society organizations and religious leaders have firmly stood to protect the lives and properties of the members of minority and ethnic communities, and Bangladesh remains committed to a secular, pluralistic, inclusive identity.
On Indian concerns about Jamaat activists and convicted terrorists being freed, Kabir argued that these fears are mostly exaggerated. The government has repeatedly expressed its strong position against any kind of extremist orientations and activities. In addition, the political landscape had shifted: Jamaat and the BNP were now separate and even competing. The student-led uprising, he said, was rooted in demands for democracy, justice, and non-discrimination — ideals that remain secular in nature.
Despite political tension, Kabir stressed that trade, power imports, and connectivity projects continue. “We are neighbours… Let us talk and work things out together for our mutual benefit,” he concluded.
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
His work has featured in national and international publications like the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Global Times and Ashahi Shimbun. But his one constant over all these years, he says, has been the attempt to understand rising India’s place in the world.
He can rustle up a mean salad, his oil-less pepper chicken is to die for, and all it takes is some beer and rhythm and blues to rock his soul.
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