An office owned by a former Awami League MP close to party chief Sheikh Hasina was rented out to a newly formed think tank Dacca Institute of Research and Analytics (DAIRA) whose main backer is Bangladesh’s Information Adviser Mahfuz Alam who is said to have Hizbut Tehrir antecedents, a Northeast News inquiry reveals.
The property, 20A South East, Borak Unique Heights, located at Eskaton Garden, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, was given away on rent by Awami League’s former Feni-1 MP Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury Nasim to DAIRA in January 2025, five months after the Sheikh Hasina regime fell as a consequence of a students-led agitation.
Informed sources said that Mahfuz Alam “visits this property quite frequently after attending to work” at the Information Ministry.
Soon after the Mohammad Yunus-led interim regime assumed power on August 8, 2024, the Nobel Peace laureate had described Mahfuz Alam, at a Democratic Party gathering in New York on September 24, 2024, as the students-led agitation’s “mastermind”. Subsequent independent inquiries had revealed Mahfuz Alam’s links with US security agencies and, notably, State Department officials.
Borak Unique Heights was built and developed by Borak Real Estate whose Managing Director is Mohammad Noor Ali, the promoter of Dhaka’s The Westin Hotel. But the property in question is owned by Nasim who is learnt to hold a Canadian passport. Nasim fled to Kolkata soon after the Hasina government fell.
Awami League sources acknowledge that Nasim is close to the party’s top leadership and is a major funds contributor to the organisational coffer.
When contacted over phone, Nasim acknowledged that he is the landlord of 20A South East, Borak Unique Heights and that the rental agreement carries his wife’s name as the lessor.
“This large property comprising seven units was given on rent to a local business establishment. They abandoned the place after August 5, 2024. As far as I know the property is vacant. I have no idea whether it has been occupied after it was vacated by the previous tenant. They did not pay six-seven months’ rent. I will try to find out what the current status is,” Nasim told Northeast News.
Recently, DAIRA held the Bengal Delta Conference 2025 under the theme ‘Bangladesh at the Crossroads: Rethinking Politics, Economy, and Geopolitical Strategy’, between August 29 and 30 at Dhaka’s Inter-Continental Hotel.
The website for the conference lists the speakers for this two-day event, saying that it brought “leading academics, policy experts, civil society representatives, and political stakeholders to critically examine the prevailing circumstances. This represents a pivotal moment for Bangladesh to reconstruct its political framework”.
It further says, “In light of evolving geopolitical realities, the Bengal Delta Conference, under the theme of Rethinking Geopolitical Strategy, aims to reimagine Bangladesh’s role as a proactive and capable actor in shaping regional and global engagement. It recognizes the Bay of Bengal as a strategic frontier central to debates on maritime sovereignty, economic connectivity, and geopolitical competition”.
DAIRA has been in operation since at least December 2024 when it hosted a conference on ‘Designing a New Constitution for the Second Republic: The Role of the Constituent Assembly’. DAIRA’s website does not have entries on its governing council or the persons who constitute this body. The organisation’s board of trustees section is also blank.
DAIRA is said to have had clandestine contacts with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk before the students’ agitation.
The organisation is said to have shared unconfirmed information related to human rights violations with the UN High Commission for Human Rights’ office.
Nasim, who spoke to his staff in Dhaka, later told Northeast News that “two of my staff members gave away two of the seven units on rent to two entities both of which claimed they were IT companies. One is called Durgapur Hi-Tech Ltd and the other is DAIRA. I wasn’t kept informed about this. After all, I am supposed to be a signatory. The rental papers available with my staff show that an agreement was signed on January 6, 2025”.
Soon after the first telephonic conversation with Northeast News, Nasim immediately contacted his staff in Dhaka who shared the rent agreement that was signed on DAIRA’s behalf by its Executive Director Mamun Abdullahi whose name on his NID card is Abdullah Al Mamun. Born in January 1996, Abdullahi is said to be a “foreign and security analyst”.
He was found to have deep links with the National Citizens’ Party, formed by former students who led the July-August movement against Sheikh Hasina.
DAIRA Executive Director Abdulah Al Mamun alias Mamun Abdullahi did not respond to a questionnaire sent to him via WhatsApp. The following questions were put to him:
- Could you please share details on when and with whom DAIRA signed an agreement to rent the property with the address 20A, 19th Floor, Borak Unique Heights?
- What is the name of the person who heads Dacca Institute of Research and Analytics?
- What are the names of the individuals who constitute Daira’s board of trustees and the governing council?
- What is the source of DAIRA’s funding?
