One Year of Ruin: The Utter Failures of Dr. Yunus's Unlawful Puppet Regime

When a nation is wrenched away from its constitutional foundations, its institutions vandalized, and its people robbed of their democratic dignity, history records the moment not as a transition but as a betrayal.

Such was 5 August 2024, when Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving elected leader of Bangladesh and the architect of its modern development, was unceremoniously ousted through a carefully orchestrated coup. At the heart of this act lay not the will of the Bangladeshi people, but the machinations of the American deep state—the Central Intelligence Agency—working in covert collusion with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), rogue elements in the military under General Waker, and their ever-faithful local proxies: the Jamaati butchers, the Dhaka cantonment-born illegitimate child called BNP, a handful of leftist opportunists, and the most regressive of right-wing religious fundamentalists.

Into this vortex was parachuted Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate turned political opportunist, as Chief Adviser of a so-called “interim government.” Cloaked in the veneer of technocracy, his regime has, in the span of a single year, exposed itself as nothing more than a puppet show—strings pulled not in Dhaka, but in Washington, Langley, and Rawalpindi.

A Year of Economic Freefall

Bangladesh’s economy, once hailed by the World Bank as a “development miracle,” has collapsed into paralysis under Yunus’s stewardship. The growth rate, which under Sheikh Hasina consistently hovered above 6 percent for more than a decade, has plummeted to below 3 percent. Inflation has spiraled beyond double digits, crushing the poor and middle class alike. The garment industry—lifeblood of the nation—has witnessed mass factory closures, capital flight, and unprecedented unemployment.

Foreign investors, once confident in the stability and direction of Hasina’s development state, have withdrawn en masse, alarmed by political instability and policy incoherence. International reserves, painstakingly built up over the past decade, are depleted, forcing the puppet regime to beg for emergency loans from the very institutions that once praised Bangladesh’s fiscal prudence.

John Maynard Keynes once warned, “The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that carries any reward.” Today, under Yunus’s hollow governance, the avoidance is not just of taxes, but of responsibility, foresight, and national interest.

Democratic Institutions in Ruin

Democracy has been reduced to rubble. Parliament remains dissolved; elections are indefinitely postponed under the pretext of “national reconciliation.” The judiciary, once emboldened under Hasina to prosecute 1971 war criminals, is now infiltrated by Jamaati-Shibir loyalists in robes. The International Crimes Tribunal, a beacon of justice for the victims of genocide, has been silenced, and war criminals like ATM Azharul Islam are being acquitted one by one.

George Orwell cautioned in 1984: “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” That is precisely what Yunus’s junta is doing—whitewashing the blood-soaked crimes of 1971 and erasing the very memory of liberation, in order to re-legitimize the same forces that once collaborated with Pakistan’s killing machine in 1971.

Human Rights Catastrophe

Under this unlawful regime, Bangladesh has descended into a human rights nightmare. Extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary detentions are rampant, as dissenting voices are brutally silenced. Journalists are hounded, academics muzzled, and ordinary citizens terrorized by the very forces that claim to be protecting them.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other watchdogs have documented with grim precision the scale of repression. Ironically, these were the same organizations weaponized by the CIA in 2024 to demonize Sheikh Hasina’s government—only to remain curiously muted today when the violations are exponentially worse.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Bangladesh today is a case study in how selective outrage by the West can destroy justice everywhere.

Economic Collapse: From Miracle to Misery

GDP Growth Crash – Once heralded as one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies (6–7% for over a decade), Bangladesh’s growth has nosedived. Real GDP declined to 5.2% in FY24 from 5.8% in FY23. In FY25, it plummeted further—to 4.2%, with projections for FY25–26 slicing to a shocking 3.3%—a 36-year low. World Bank+1The Australia TodayBDDiGEST

Inflation Surge – General inflation has swelled to 11–11.4%, while food prices soared even higher, nearing 14%. Such levels crush household budgets and breed desperation. Wikipedia

Poverty Rises – The World Bank estimates that during Yunus’s tenure, over 2.7 million additional Bangladeshis have fallen into poverty, 1.8 million of whom are women. The Financial Express

Investment Paralysis – Private sector credit and investment have collapsed. By early 2025, private credit growth tumbled to a decade-low of 7.15%, far below the central bank’s 9.8% goal—signaling eroding business confidence. The Australia Today

Debt Items – Public debt stood at $181 billion, roughly 40.1% of GDP, with household debt adding another 6.7%. Interest payments gulp down 22% of total revenue, or 15.5% of all spending. The Financial Express

These numbers don’t reflect an economy under mild stress—they reveal one on life support, bleeding at every vital organ.

Institutions in Collapse: Democracy Undone

Yunus’s regime has hollowed out democratic and judicial structures. Parliament lies suspended, elections indefinitely delayed, and the judiciary is tainted with Jamaati infiltrators. The International Crimes Tribunal, Bangladesh’s moral compass in prosecuting 1971 atrocities, is silenced, with war criminals rehabilitated one acquittal at a time. Orwell’s warning rings true: “To destroy people is to deny their history.” WikipediaAsia Pacific Foundation of CanadaThe Times

Human Rights: A Sudden Leap into Repression

Far from the democratic reforms promised, the regime has unleashed systematic repression. Enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and brutal campus violence are widespread. Journalists, academics, and ethnic minorities—especially Hindus—face mounting threats. Reports from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International chronicle a disastrous spiral downward. Meanwhile, the regime’s early supporters—the West—remain eerily silent. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words echo: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The Times+1AP News

Foreign Policy: Subservience in the Name of Sovereignty

Yunus’s Bangladesh has turned its back on independent diplomacy. The arch-rivalry with India has cooled into distrust; Pakistan and the ISI’s influence grows as old scars heal into open wounds. The Rohingya crisis festers with no progress. Russia and China—once partners—have shifted to a distant admiration, seeing Dhaka as a satellite of Washington.

Henry Kissinger once sneered, “Bangladesh is a basket case.” Sheikh Hasina disproved him with development. Now, Yunus has revived the insult, wrecking the very state she built.

Reckless Reforms: Chasing Disruption, Not Progress

A slew of “reform” measures—disbanding the NBR, reorganizing the central bank, sidelining established institutions—has sparked instability rather than stability. The 2025 NBR strike paralyzed customs and tax operations nationwide, costing billions in trade losses. Wikipedia

Meanwhile, even the European Investment Bank, while pledging €2 billion, has signaled deep concern about rampant human rights violations and governance backsliding. AP News

The Rogue Alliance: Fractured, Fanatical, Failed

Yunus’s so-called interim government is propped up by a motley coalition of anti-liberation groups. Jamaat-Shibir elements—responsible for genocide in 1971—wield influence again. BNP, conceived in cantonments, re-emerges as a revanchist force. Opportunistic leftists and reactionary fundies carve out spheres of influence from chaos. This alliance is not about governance—it’s about keeping Bangladesh fractured and pliable.

The Alliance of Rogues

The composition of this so-called interim government reveals its true intent. Jamaati-Shibir operatives, the very butchers of 1971, have wormed their way into positions of influence. BNP—the illegitimate child born in Dhaka cantonment under the shadow of martial law—has resurged like a vulture feeding on chaos. A handful of opportunistic leftists and regressive right-wing clerics, each irrelevant in the democratic process, now hold sway over national policy.

This grotesque alliance, stitched together by the CIA and ISI, has only one agenda: to keep Bangladesh destabilized, fractured, and servile to external masters.

The People’s Verdict

And yet, despite the repression, the people have not been silenced. From Dhaka to Gopalganj, from Sylhet to Khulna, the masses continue to whisper the same words: Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu, Joytu Sheikh Hasina. The betrayal is too raw, the pain too deep, for history to be rewritten by puppets and collaborators.

Thomas Jefferson warned: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” That duty has once again been thrust upon the Bangladeshi people.

Terminus Point: History’s Verdict

In just one year, Dr. Yunus’s unlawful puppet regime has undone decades of democratic progress, economic growth, and international respect. It has transformed Bangladesh from a rising tiger into a wounded prey, bleeding under the claws of external masters and internal traitors.

But history is not written by puppets. It is written by the will of the people, by their sacrifices, and by their unyielding pursuit of justice. The very forces that sought to erase 1971 today face the same destiny that befell them in 1971: rejection, resistance, and eventual defeat.

As Abraham Lincoln once proclaimed, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

The Yunus regime, in collusion with the CIA, ISI, Jamaati butchers, and their Dhaka cantonment progeny, has fooled the world for one year. But it cannot fool the people of Bangladesh forever. The day is not far when the puppets will fall, and the people will reclaim their republic.

Joy Bangla. Joy Bangabandhu. Victory to Bangladesh.

Source: Anwar A. Khan 

Author's Bio: The writer was a freedom fighter in 1971 to establish Bangladesh and is an independent political analyst based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, who writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.

×