Dhaka:Days after the Tarique Rehman-led new government assumed office inBangladesh, the South Asian nation’s President, Mohammed Shahabuddin, accused former chief adviser and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus of conspiring to remove him through unconstitutional means. In an interview with the Bangladeshi Bengali daily Kaler Kantho, Shahabuddin alleged that efforts were made during Yunus’s tenure to destabilise the country and create a constitutional vacuum.
"During those one and a half years, I have not been in any discussion, yet various conspiracies are being hatched against me. There have been many attempts to permanently destroy the peace and order of the country and create a constitutional vacuum," Shahabuddin said in the interview given at Bangabhaban, the President's official residence in Dhaka.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin told Kaler Kantho that former chief adviser Muhammad Yunus failed to maintain the constitutionally mandated communication with him during the interim government period. He said he was neither informed about foreign visits nor briefed on key state matters, calling such updates a “constitutional obligation.”
"The chief adviser did not follow any provision of the constitution. Whenever he went abroad, he was supposed to meet the president after returning and inform me in writing about the outcomes. He travelled abroad 14 to 15 times, but not once did he inform me. He never came to see me," the president said, according to a report by NDTV.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin alleged that over the past one and a half years he was effectively reduced to a “palace prisoner,” claiming that two of his proposed foreign visits, to Kosovo and Qatar, were blocked by the administration of former chief adviser Muhammad Yunus.
When asked whether the former chief adviser had coordinated with him on key state decisions, including the promulgation of 133 ordinances, Shahabuddin said that while some ordinances may have been warranted by prevailing circumstances, there was no justification for issuing such a high number.
When asked whether he was aware of the final agreement concluded with the United States by the interim government ahead of the elections, the President said he had no knowledge of it, adding that such matters should have been formally communicated to him.
"No, I do not know anything. Such a state agreement should have been informed to me. Be it small or big, of course, the previous heads of government informed the President. And this is a constitutional obligation. But he did not do it. He did not inform me verbally nor in writing. He didn't come. And he was supposed to come anyway!" the President said.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin claimed that “at one point, even a conspiracy was hatched to bring in a former chief justice and seat him in my place through unconstitutional means.” He added that the judge declined the proposal, citing constitutional limitations.
He also described the October 22, 2024 protests outside Bangabhaban as a “terrifying night,” alleging that mobs had been mobilised and attempts were made to loot the presidential residence. The situation, he said, was eventually brought under control after the military was deployed.
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