Bangladesh: Students, lawyers, banker and activists but no politician in interim govt

Awami League leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing in ceremony of the new interim government headed by Dr Mohammad Yunus, a Nobel Laureate. However, although representatives of other political parties like the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jatiya Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Krishak Sramik Janata League attended the programme, no party is represented in the interim government.

As demanded by the protesting students, the interim government is made of eminent people with credibility from the civil society. They include a former chief election commission, a former central banker and a former foreign secretary. Out of the 17 advisors, three could not take oath as they were away from Dhaka. Bidhan Ranjan Roy, Supradip Chakma, and Faruk-e-Azam will take oath later.

Two of the advisors – Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud – are coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination that led the mass uprising against the Sheikh Hasina government. Both were students at Dhaka University in July, Nahid studying sociology and Asif a student of linguistics, when the protests against discriminatory quotas started. They gained prominence when they were picked up during the first round of curfew imposed by the Hasina government to suppress the quota reform movement. Media reports described how they were tortured and left on the roadside.

Later, the Detective Branch (DB) picked up the two again along with four other coordinators while they were undergoing treatment at Gonoshasthaya Nagar Hospital in the capital. But instead of backing down, they launched a hunger strike at the DB office on 30 July, protesting the unjust arrests of their coordinators and the brutal crackdown on students nationwide.

The brief profile of the advisers in the interim government, who will have ministerial ranks show the diversity in the new arrangement. Dr Yunus will have the rank of the prime minister.

Dr Muhammad Yunus

Prof Muhammad Yunus is the founder of Grameen Bank. Dr Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. He served on the board of directors of the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to support UN causes, from 1998 to 2021.

Dr Salehuddin Ahmed

Dr Salehuddin Ahmed served as the 9th governor of the Bangladesh Bank, from May 1, 2005 to April 30, 2009. During his tenure, he implemented reforms aimed at fostering discipline in the banking sector and modernising the central bank's operations. Dr Ahmed started his career as a lecturer in Economics at Dhaka University in 1970.

Brigadier General (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain

M Sakhawat Hossain is a former election commissioner of Bangladesh (2007-2012). He was brigadier general (retired) in the Bangladesh Army. He wrote more than 32 books, and serves as a columnist and freelance commentator on national and international television as a security and defence analyst. He served on the Board of Directors of Sonali Bank, the largest commercial bank in Bangladesh for two years.

Dr Md Nazrul Islam (Asif Nazrul)

Dr. Islam is a law professor, researcher and civil society activist. He has written a number of book chapters and research papers on constitutional issues and international law in leading journals. He was a Bureau Member of the South Asia for Human Rights from 2011-17.

Adilur Rahman Khan

Adilur Rahman Khan is a human rights activist and the founder of Odhikar, a human rights organization. He is a lawyer and former Deputy Attorney General for Bangladesh. Since October 2022, he has been one of the Secretaries General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Adilur Rahman Khan studied law at the University of Dhaka.

AF Hassan Ariff

A Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh he has been practicing since 1970. He held office of attorney general for Bangladesh from October, 2001- April, 2005. He was the Law Adviser (Cabinet Minister) of the caretaker government of Bangladesh from January 2008- January 2009. He was also enrolled as an advocate of the Calcutta High Court, West Bengal India in 1967.

Md Touhid Hossain

Md Touhid Hossain is a former foreign secretary of Bangladesh. He is the former high commissioner of Bangladesh to South Africa and was a deputy high commissioner in Calcutta. He joined the Bangladesh Foreign Service in 1981. From January 1999 to February 2000, Hossain served as the Principal of the Foreign Service Academy.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan

Chief Executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), she is a member of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, and the Environmental Law Commission of International Unions for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Additionally, she is a member on the board of the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics (SANDEE).

Supradip Chakma

The chairman of Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board (CHTDB), he previously worked as ambassador of Bangladesh to Vietnam and Mexico. He also served in the Bangladesh embassy in Rabat, high Commission in Colombo and embassies in Brussels and Ankara.

Farida Akhter

She has carried out extensive research in agriculture, marine fisheries, population, and development issues. UBINIG, the organisation she founded, runs a biodiversity-based farming system involving over 300,000 farming families. She is the author of several books and is a regular columnist in national dailies, writing on biodiversity, environment, women, and other issues.

Bidhan Ranjan Roy

Prof Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar is a Psychology Specialist in Mymensingh, Bangladesh. He is Director cum Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at National Institute of Mental Health & Hospital.

Sharmeen Murshid

Sharmeen Murshid is the chief executive officer of human rights organization Brotee. Since 2001, the organisation has been working for the rights of marginalized groups, especially the indigenous people.

AFM Khalid Hossain

A prominent Deobandi Islamic scholar, educator, writer, researcher, editor, international Islamic speaker and social reformer. He is the former vice-president of Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh, education adviser of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, editor of monthly At-Tawheed and assistant editor of Balagh al-Sharq. He was the professor and head of Department of Islamic History and Culture at Omargani MES College and central president of the Islami Chhatra Samaj, student wing of Nizam-e-Islam Party.

Farooq-e-Azam

Naval commando Farooq-e-Azam is a freedom fighter. In 1971, at the beginning of the liberation war, Farooq-e-Azam passed high school. “Operation Jackpot” was the only coordinated campaign of the Liberation War. He was the deputy commander of the team formed to attack the Chittagong port.

Nurjahan Begum

One of the earliest associates of Professor Muhammad Yunus during the establishment of Grameen Bank, she served as the acting managing director of Grameen Bank after Prof Yunus left the bank in 2011. She has also worked as consultant, trainer and evaluator of microcredit programs around the world.

Nahid Islam

A student activist and one of the main leaders of the 2024 quota reform movement, he was born in Dhaka in 1998  to a teacher and a homemaker.

Asif Mahmud

One of key coordinators of the Students Against Discrimination movement, he hails from Comilla.