The French embassy in Dhaka today sacked three Bangladeshis for their suspected role in sharing the Mohammad Yunus-led interim authority’s response to US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard’s comments on the rise of fundamentalism in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi government and media sources disclosed that a senior official in Yunus’s Press division, a former Agence France Press (AFP) bureau chief in Dhaka, was instrumental in sharing the interim authority’s statement with at least one Bangladeshis employed by the French embassy.
Several knowledgeable officials Northeast News spoke with confirmed that this official in Yunus’ media division had helped the “main culprit”, whose name Northeast News is withholding for legal reasons, to get a job with the embassy’s communications section.
Within hours of Gabbard’s strong statement on the rise of Islamist fundamentalism and militant outfits in Bangladesh, the chief advisor’s office released a powerful statement on March 17, noting with “deep concern and distress the remarks made by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, in which she alleged ‘persecution and killing’ of religious minorities in Bangladesh and ‘the threat of Islamic terrorists in the country is ‘rooted’ in the ‘ideology and objective’ to ‘rule and govern with an Islamist caliphate’”.
The Bangladeshi interim authority’s response went on to say that Gabbard’s “statement is both misleading and damaging to the image and reputation of Bangladesh, a nation whose traditional practice of Islam has been famously inclusive and peaceful and that had made remarkable strides in its fight against extremism and terrorism”.
Several Bangladeshi government officials and political analysts said that while the response itself is “replete with inconsistencies, as the claims made (in the response) belie the truth on the ground”.
Since August 8, 2024, Bangladesh witnessed widespread deadly attacks against Hindu minorities and even the Sufi community.
These targeted attacks, which resulted in killings, grievous injuries, rape and gang rape of Hindu women, besides the torching of Sufi shrines and other places of worship, have been dismissed by Yunus and his spin doctors as outcomes of anger directed against Awami League supporters and activists.
In other words, the Yunus administration has sought to justify violence, irrespective of whether it was directed against Hindus or Awai League supporters in general.
There is irrefutable evidence to show that the Yunus regime – specifically the law and home ministries – released convicted terrorists within days of assuming charge.
No other advisor in the interim authority protested against these illegal moves that can be construed as “acts of commission”. On social media, Yunus has been pejoratively described as ‘Jangibandhu’ or a friend of terrorists.
As for the statement that Yunus’ Press office shared with the French embassy’s communications team, sources suspect a “particular official (a former AFP journalist)” of executing the plan with the “purpose of using a foreign mission to propagate the interim authority’s stand” which “violated diplomatic norms” and general probity.
This particular official in Yunus’ Press wing is said to have deep links with Bangladeshi Islamists.
Recently, he had shared a fake document – an Indian ‘Aadhar card’ prepared in the name of a cousin of Sheikh Hasina – on his Facebook page before deleting it when it was proved to be a forgery.
