When Bangladesh President Mohammad Shahabuddin said in an interview with Dhaka Tribune that he did not have any documentary evidence of Sheikh Hasina’s resignation, he did not realize the consequences of this statement on his presidency and that it could even be life threatening. To him. Shahabuddin did mention that Hasina probably did not have the time to do so, as he recounted the chaos and mayhem on August 5 with hordes of mobs on the rampage.

According to Shahabuddin, he had a meeting with Hasina an hour before she fled, and he and the Army Chief General Waker Uz Zaman had “heard” of Hasina resigning, but there was no documentary proof. He further said, “When everything was under control, one day the cabinet secretary came to collect a copy of the resignation letter. I told him I was also looking for the same.

Does this mean Sheikh Hasina remains the de facto Prime Minister of Bangladesh? This came as a surprise even to the US, a country many feel engineered the change in Bangladesh. American economist Jeffery D Sachs has talked of very strong evidence of the US role in toppling the government of Imran khan in Pakistan, raising the likelihood that something similar may was done in Bangladesh (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQmF2ykP9FQ).

Orchestrated violence?

Sachs explains that Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia and Central Asia in the US State Department spearheaded these regime changes, using the CIA and organizations like the CIA-funded NGO, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-profit organization created in 1983 with the cover job of strengthening democratic institutions around the world through its worldwide grants program. Sachs emphasizes that the US is the only country doing regime changes worldwide, and that too very frequently.

It is, therefore, no surprise that the same scenes of orchestrated violence and rampage in Dhaka, as was witnessed that forced Hasina to flee, has been orchestrated again. Violent mobs have besieged the presidential house of President Shahabuddin for speaking the truth that Sheikh Hasina did not resign before the military packed her out of the country. They are demanding the resignation of Shahabuddin and removal of the army chief, threatening that otherwise riots will spread throughout Bangladesh and that the country’s borders will also witness violence. President Shahabuddin has been given a 24 hour ultimatum to resign (https://youtu.be/PwJiaTk3MCs?si=hTLxsJIgCNn9ZlcT).

It remains to be seen whether the residence of President Shahabuddin will be “allowed” to be rampaged by the mobs if he does not resign, and will he be physically attacked like some of the members of judiciary as part of the regime change? The Army Chief is unlikely to change, considering the recent overhaul in the senior ranks.

Ominous portents

The apparent aim of the mobsters, which include Islamist students backed by sections of the military, is to overturn the constitution and impose Sharia, the Islamic canonical law, in Bangladesh. Release of terrorist leaders from prison like Muhammad Jasimuddin Rahmani, chief of Ansarullah Bangla, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, his confabulations with Lashkar-e-Toiba's Mufti Haron Izhar, who planned attacks against Indian interests in Bangladesh, and both addressing mass rallies, all point towards this. Removal of the president will usher in military rule.

Concurrent are reports coming from Bangladesh that the Interim Government of Bangladesh, with Muhammad Yunus as Chief Advisor, has imposed restrictions on locals from visiting Saint Martin Island (a small three square kilometre island forming the southern tip of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal}; in fact, beginning February 2025 no one can visit the island. Sheikh Hasina had reportedly mentioned that not agreeing to part with this island was why she was ousted. This raises strong speculation among strategic circles whether Yunus has signed a deal to hand over the island to the US to establish a military base, and that was why he was accorded the red carpet during his visit to Washington after the regime change in Dhaka. 

(The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal)