Muhammad Yunus News

A key leader of NCP, which was floated last month with widely assumed blessings of Professor Muhammad Yunus, accused the military of «political interference» over a proposal for inclusiveness that would allow Awami League to participate in the next elections. «Those who are supposed to discharge their work inside cantonment, should stay there... in the 'post-revolution Bangladesh' no interference in the political landscape from the cantonment will be accepted,» said Hasnat Abdullah in a press briefing at the NCP office. Several hundred followers of Hasnat and NCP activists also chanted slogans at the rallies against Army chief General Waker Uz Zaman chanting «Waker or Hasnat; Hasnat, Hasnat» and demanded Hasina and her «cohorts» to be hanged after trial. The military, which is now entrusted with maintaining nationwide law and order with magistracy power, however, did not enter the campus but continued their intensified patrol, particularly in the capital.

The Starlink service will be unveiled at a government-backed investment summit that opens in Dhaka on Monday. «We granted them approval,» Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud, chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority, told reporters on Sunday. Mahmud said it was granted on March 28, several days before US President Donald Trump unveiled his wide-ranging tariff programme that sent global markets into a tailspin. The new tariff on Bangladesh goods was set at 37 percent, hiking duties from the previous 16 percent on cotton.

Bangladesh Chief Advisor about the meeting of the Bangladesh leader Muhammad Yunus with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources have dismissed the account as mischievous and politically motivated. Sources said on Saturday that the characterisation of PM Modi's remarks regarding the relationship between Yunus and the previous government was also inaccurate. The sources said underlined that PM Modi spoke of the progress in our bilateral relationship since 2014 and characterized it as a deep friendship between our societies and peoples. They said PM Modi also mentioned the importance of elections as the basis of legitimacy in any democracy. «A continued procrastination in this regard would damage the Chief Advisor's reputation. The Bangladeshi contention that attacks on minorities were a social media concoction was dismissed as being in contradiction of facts on the ground,» a source said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus here on Friday, official media reported. Yunus, on a four-day visit to China, took part in the country's Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in Hainan after his arrival there on Wednesday. He arrived in Beijing on Thursday and was received at the airport by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong. Gearing up for his meeting with Xi, Yunus called on China on Thursday to reduce interest rates for Chinese loans and waive commitment fees on Chinese-funded projects. In his meeting with the Chinese Executive Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, Yunus sought Chinese support in an array of development projects, Bangladesh media reports said. He also called for a reduction of interest rates for Chinese loans from three per cent to 1-2 per cent to Bangladesh and sought a waiver of commitment fees on the Chinese-funded projects in Bangladesh. China is Bangladesh's fourth-largest lender after Japan, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, with total loans disbursed since 1975 coming to USD 7.5 billion, according to a report in the Daily Star newspaper of Bangladesh.

Issues related to bilateral interest will be discussed in the meeting between Yunus and Xi, Alam said. Dhaka wants to take its relations with Beijing to a new height aiming to turn Bangladesh into a manufacturing hub, he said. «They (China) think that this would be the most important visit by the Bangladeshi leader,» Alam added. «On March 27, Yunus will address the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) conference focusing on the changing role of Asia in the world,» he said.

Amartya Sen said his friend Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of the neighbouring country's interim government, is taking significant steps but has a long road ahead to resolve the impasse. Sen said the situation in Bangladesh had deeply affected him and he was concerned about how the country would navigate the challenges. In an exclusive interview with PTI at his Santiniketan home in West Bengal's Birbhum district, Sen emphasised that Bangladesh, which has largely kept communal forces like Jamaat in check, should continue its admirable commitment to secularism. «The situation in Bangladesh affects me deeply because I have a strong Bengali sense of identity,» Sen told PTI.

Sheikh Hasina last summer are now diving into politics by forming the new National Citizen Party. The aim is to create new political space in a fiercely divisive dynastic political landscape. For decades, the country's politics have been dominated by two former prime ministers and archrivals — Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia. The announcement came Friday at a rally in front of Parliament in Dhaka, during which political reforms were promised for a country born in 1971 through a bloody war against Pakistan.

Bangladesh's interim government on Monday said it will equip the country's paramilitary border guards with non-lethal sound grenades and tear gas canisters, mirroring practices adopted by its Indian counterpart. Home Affairs Adviser retired Lieutenant General M Jahangir Alam Chowdhury confirmed the decision during a press briefing at the Secretariat here.

Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Tuesday demanded that the general election be held by July-August this year, refuting interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus's stance to stage it by the year-end or mid-2026. «There is no reason to delay the election that much,» said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir after an overnight meeting of the party's standing committee that was chaired virtually by acting BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman from London.

Bangladesh faced an upheaval this year with the ouster of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a development that also cast a shadow over its traditionally strong ties with India. The relations could be strained further: Bangladesh now seeks her extradition from India. The removal of 77-year-old Hasina followed weeks of protests led by students over a controversial quota system in government jobs that escalated into a nationwide campaign calling for the end of her 16-year regime.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday held discussions with Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, reaffirming the United States' commitment to supporting a «prosperous, stable, and democratic» Bangladesh.

Bangladesh on Tuesday acknowledged 88 incidents of communal violence against minorities, primarily Hindus, following the ouster of then-premier Sheikh Hasina in August. Interim government head Muhammad Yunus' press secretary Shafiqul Alam also said that 70 people have been arrested in those incidents. He made the disclosure a day after Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri flagged regrettable incidents of attacks on minorities and conveyed India's concerns, including those related to the safety and welfare of minorities, during his meetings with the Bangladeshi leadership. A total of 88 cases have been filed in incidents related to minorities from August 5 to October 22, Alam told reporters.

Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday urged the country's politicians to keep differences at bay and put up a united front to counter "Indian aggression". The Muslim-majority nation saw a student-led uprising in August, toppling autocratic premier Sheikh Hasina and ending her 15-year rule. India — Hasina's biggest international patron and the destination of her exile — has accused Yunus' administration of failing to protect minority Hindus, straining ties between the neighbours.

Sheikh Hasina from 2009 to 2024," an official statement said. The statement, issued by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus's office, said the committee was currently reviewing seven major energy and power projects, including the Adani (Godda) BIFPCL 1234.4 MW coal-fired plant, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Adani Power Limited. The six other agreements include one with a Chinese company that built a 1320 MW coal-fired power plant, while the rest are with Bangladeshi business groups said to be close to the past regime.

Muhammad Yunus said Sunday that his administration will seek the extradition of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India, where has been in exile since fleeing a mass uprising in August. In a televised address to the nation on his first 100 days in office, Yunus said that the interim government will try those responsible including Hasina for hundreds of deaths during the student-led uprising that ended her 15-year rule. Yunus took the helm on Aug. 8, three days after Hasina fled the country. He said that not only the deaths in the uprising but all other violations of human rights, including alleged enforced disappearances while Hasina was in power, would be investigated. Bangladesh has sought help from the global police organization Interpol in issuing a red notice for the arrest of Hasina and her associates.

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) Md Tajul Islam has written to Inspector General of Police Md Moinul Islam, seeking action to issue a red notice through Interpol for ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her aides, a media report said on Tuesday. The chief prosecutor sent the letter to the Inspector General of Police on Tuesday, Bangla language daily Prothom Alo reported, citing sources at the tribunal. The development comes two days after Law Affairs adviser Asif Nazrul on Sunday said Bangladesh will seek Interpol's assistance in repatriating Hasina from India and other «fugitives» to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity. Hasina and her party leaders face accusations of ordering brutal suppression of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, resulting in numerous casualties during the July-August protests. The movement later intensified into a large-scale uprising, forcing Hasina to flee to India on August 5.

Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser of Bangladesh interim government congratulating US President-elect Donald Trump and calling him 'messiah' is going viral on social media. The viral letter has been posted on social media with a caption which reads, «Hitler md Yunus Wrote Trump is the messiah. #Bangladesh. Then What About black days of America? Solar eclipses in USA, Inhuman trump that you Speech Against president Trump? (sic).» The letter is going extremely viral on Facebook and X.

Donald Trump, police said Sunday, accusing them of trying to undermine relations with Washington. Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, 77, fled by helicopter to India on August 5, following weeks of deadly student-led protests. Since then a caretaker government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has taken charge. It has been tasked with implementing democratic reforms and holding elections.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is visiting Bangladesh to meet with interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who took over in August after the former prime minister fled during a mass uprising

Sheikh Hasina government, external affairs minister S Jaishankar met Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser Touhid Hossain and discussed bilateral ties between the two countries. The meeting between Jaishankar and his Bangladeshi counterpart of the interim government on Monday evening came on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. This was the Indian external affairs minister's first meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart after an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus Khan took charge following the ouster of Hasina on August 5. Yunus, 84, took oath as the head of the interim government on August 8.

hilsa fish being sent to India is not a gift but an export aimed at generating foreign currency for Dhaka, reported TOI. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, stated that they did not want to close the door on discussions with India over minor issues. «The decision came from the top level,» she said, emphasising that the export value of hilsa was significant and should not be underestimated. «The price has already increased so it's not accurate to say prices will rise further due to export. This matter is under govt's consideration,» noted the TOI report.