'Unity needed to stop return of authoritarianism': Bangladesh government fears uncertain future amid protests from opposition

Bangladesh’s interim government is facing an uncertain political future, as rival parties took to streets in a manner reminiscent of the mass protests that led to the ousting of Sheikh Hasina’s regime. Calling out for a united front to avoid the "return of authoritarianism", the Muhammad Yunus-government on Saturday assured democratic reforms before elections that are due by June 2026 at the earliest.

"Broader unity is essential to maintain national stability, organise free and fair elections, justice, and reform, and permanently prevent the return of authoritarianism in the country," the interim government said in a statement, following a week of escalating street protests by rival parties in the capital, Dhaka.

"If the government's autonomy, reform efforts, justice process, fair election plan, and normal operations are obstructed to the point of making its duties unmanageable, it will, with the people, take the necessary steps," it added.

Yunus’s team confirmed that he is set to hold talks with leaders of the influential Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest Islamist party—both of which have staged protests against the government. While no official agenda has been announced, the BNP, widely seen as the electoral frontrunner, is pressing for elections to be held by December. This came after the interim government assured that Yunus would not step down early.

'1/11-style military-backed government could re-emerge'

Nahid Islam, leader of the National Citizen Party (NCP)—a group largely composed of students who led the uprising that toppled Hasina's regime—expressed concern that a military-backed leadership may be seeking to undermine and replace the interim government.

"There are indications that a 1/11-style military-backed government could re-emerge -- one that is anti-democratic and anti-people," Islam said.

"While the military is an essential institution for state security, it should not interfere in political affairs," he added.

Islam, a close ally of Yunus and former cabinet member, said that he feared a repeat of January 11, 2007—when a state of emergency paved the way for a military-backed government that remained in power for two years.
The caretaker government, led by 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus , is tasked with steering Bangladesh toward democratic reform.

'Unreasonable demands'

The statement by the interim government accused critics of making "unreasonable demands" and issuing "deliberately provocative and jurisdictionally overreaching statements," which it said have persistently hindered the government's functioning.

According to Bangladeshi media and military sources, army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman voiced support this week for holding elections by December, echoing the demands of the BNP.

The upcoming vote would mark the first since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India, where she remains in self-imposed exile, defying an arrest warrant over charges of crimes against humanity stemming from last year’s deadly police crackdown that left at least 1,400 protesters dead.