East Pakistan ‘reborn’: Yunus govt apes Sharif’s; hunts down Hasina, top Awami leaders

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Nobel Peace Laureate Mohammed Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) is no different from the Mohammed Shehbaz Sharif-led government in Pakistan: both are controlled by militant Islamists, have imposed dozens of cases against their democratically-elected and toppled former prime ministers and hunting down their respective parties.

The way Islamabad arrested top leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaaf (PTI), including its imprisoned chief former premier Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, Dhaka has also begun rounding up key leaders of former PM Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League Party.

If Imran Khan is facing over 150 court cases, Hasina is now facing around 75, amid demands for her extradition from India to Bangladesh, under pressure from the revived Islamist outfit, Jamaat-e-Islami, the real power behind Yunus’ throne.

The media reported on Thursday that former Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad (National Assembly) Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and ex-commerce minister Tipu Munshi have been arrested over the alleged killing of a goldsmith during the recent quota reform protests that led to the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina-led government on August 5.

Munshi, 74, was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion in Gulshan, Dhaka, on Wednesday night in the murder case filed in Rangpur, the Dhaka Tribune newspaper reported.

The case was filed against 17 people, including Munshi and Chaudhury, for the alleged killing of Muslim Uddin Milon, a 38-year-old goldsmith.

Besides, many unnamed people were also accused in the case.

Chaudhury, 46, was the first female speaker of the Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad from April 2013 until August 2024.

Milon was shot dead on July 19 in Rangpur during the student-led movement against a controversial quota system in government jobs, which later turned into a mass uprising that ousted the 76-year-old Hasina’s Awami League government on August 5, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

Reports said when a clash broke out between students and Awami League activists during a protest in the City Bazaar area, police opened fire indiscriminately under the alleged orders of the accused persons.

Milon was hit by a bullet at that time and taken to Rangpur Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead, the report said.

Over 230 people were killed in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina-led government, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students first started in mid-July.

Fearing retribution by the Jamaat-led “students”, many senior Awami League leaders, lawmakers, and former ministers went into hiding following the fall of the Hasina-led government.

Munshi had also been hiding since August 5, according to the leading Bengali-language newspaper Prothom Alo.

He became the commerce minister during the third consecutive term of Awami League government led by Hasina.

Hasina, who fled to India on August 5, is facing at least 75 cases, including murder charges, against her.