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Rest of reforms to be implemented by political govts, AL to decide about its participation in polls

The chief adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, said on Thursday that the interim government would implement part of the July Charter to be signed by the political parties after the dialogue on the reforms recommended by six commissions.

The rest of the reforms will be carried out by the next elected government, he said in a meeting with visiting former US diplomats William B Milam and Jon Danilowicz, also president and executive director of a US-based Right to Freedom.

During the hour-long meeting at the state guest house Jamuna in Dhaka, Yunus told the diplomats that political parties would sign a July charter after the conclusion of the dialogue on the reforms recommended by the six commissions, said a press release issued by the chief adviser’s press wing.

‘The July Charter will guide us,’ the chief adviser said, adding, ‘the interim government will implement parts of the recommendations made in the July Charter and the rest will be implemented by political governments.’

Earlier, in a recent interview with BBC, Yunus said the general election would be held between December 2025 and March 2026, depending on how quickly his government could institute reforms necessary for free and fair polls, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported Thursday.

‘If reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, then December would be the time that we would hold elections. If you have a longer version of reforms, then we may need a few more months,’ Yunus was quoted as saying in the interview.

It is unclear if Hasina, who fled into exile in India, and her party will participate in elections Prof Yunus hopes to hold later this year, according to a BBC report released on the day, mentioning that ‘she is wanted in Bangladesh for alleged crimes against humanity.’

‘They [the Awami League] have to decide if they want to do it, I cannot decide for them,’ said Yunus in his interview with the BBC at his official residence in Dhaka.

‘The election commission decides who participates in the election,’ he added.

In the meeting with the former US diplomats, they also discussed the current Bangladesh-US relations, the Rohingya crisis, and the impact of dwindling aid for the much-persecuted Myanmar refugees, recovering billions of dollars stolen during the previous regime, the chief adviser’s attempt to revive the SAARC and possible dates for the upcoming elections.

The two former diplomats updated the chief adviser about the work of the Right to Freedom and their plan to expand its work in Bangladesh as part of its efforts to assist the country in its democratic transition,

Milam, who was a US ambassador to Bangladesh in the early 1990s, lauded the interim government’s reform initiatives, saying the July uprising has offered big opportunities to carry out sweeping reforms and establish a true democracy in Bangladesh, said the press release.

Jon Danilowicz, who was a deputy ambassador of the United States to Bangladesh, said Bangladesh needs positive narratives and serious efforts to tackle the menace of fake news and disinformation.

About his assumption of the office, Professor Yunus told BBC that he felt ‘dazzled’ when asked to take charge after long-serving prime minister Sheikh Hasina was driven out of power last year, according to the BSS report.

‘I had no idea I’d be leading the government,’ Yunus said in the interview.

He said restoring law and order and fixing the economy were priorities for the country.

‘Peace and order is the most important thing, and the economy. It’s a shattered economy, a devastated economy,’ he said.

‘It’s as if there’s been some terrible tornado for 16 years and we’re trying to pick up the pieces,’ he continued.

A student-led uprising toppled Sheikh Hasina from office in August. At the behest of protesters, Prof Yunus came back to Bangladesh to lead the new interim government.

‘We are coming from complete disorder,’ the chief adviser said, referring to the violent protests that engulfed Bangladesh last summer. ‘People getting shot, killed,’ he said.

‘Better is a relative term,’ Yunus said. ‘If you are comparing it to the last year for example at the same time, it looks okay,’ he added.

‘What is happening right now is no different than any other time,’ he also said.

Yunus blamed many of Bangladesh’s current woes on the previous government.

When asked by the BBC about claims by AL members that Bangladesh is not safe for them, Yunus said, ‘There’s a court, there’s a law, there’s a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint.’

He added, ‘You just don’t go to a BBC correspondent to complain, you go to the police station to complain and see whether the law is taking its course.’

The Trump administration’s decision to cut foreign aid and effectively end almost all programmes funded by the US Agency for International Development will have an impact on countries like Bangladesh.

‘It is their decision,’ Yunus said.

‘It’s been helpful. Because they are doing things that we wanted to get done, like fighting corruption and things like that, which we couldn’t afford right away,’ he said.

The United States is the third largest supplier of official development assistance to Bangladesh. Last year the US committed $450m in foreign aid.

When asked how it will make up the shortfall, the Bangladesh chief adviser said, ‘When it happens, we will make do.’