Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of Bangladesh interim government. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

There is no plan to change the national anthem of Bangladesh, the country’s Religious Affairs Advisor AFM Khalid Hossain said on Saturday (September 7, 2024).

“The interim government will not do anything to create controversy,” Mr. Hossain told the media after visiting the Islamic Foundation in Rajshahi and attending a gathering of dignitaries.

This comes after Abdullahil Amaan Azmi, the son of former Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ghulam Azam, earlier this week called for a change in the country’s national anthem and Constitution.

He said: “I leave the matter of the national anthem to this government. The current national anthem we have is contrary to the existence of our independent Bangladesh. It reflects the time of the Bengal partition and the merging of the two Bengals. How can an anthem created to unite the two Bengals become the national anthem of an independent Bangladesh? This anthem was imposed on us by India in 1971. Many songs could serve as a national anthem. The government should form a new commission to select a new national anthem.”

Mr. Hossain said Bangladesh, as a neighbouring country, wants a friendly relationship with India.

“We have heard reports of attacks on our cricket team in India. Since the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is in charge, they will decide on the necessary course of action,” Dhaka Tribune quoted the advisor as saying.

Terming attacks on mosques, temples, and shrines as “heinous”, Mr. Hossain said: “Those who attack places of worship are enemies of humanity. They are criminals, and they will be prosecuted under existing laws.”

Mr. Hossain further said local citizens as well as madrasa students will guard temples during the Durga Puja to prevent any attack or sabotage.

“Madrasa students were never involved in terrorism. That was propaganda and conspiracy by the previous government.”

The advisor said that after the change in government, there had been attacks on the houses of some members of the Hindu community just as Muslim houses were attacked and this should not be viewed differently.

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, taking the death toll to 560 since the anti-quota protests first started in mid-July.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A case of enforced disappearance was filed on Wednesday (August 14, 2024) against Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina and several others, including former ministers of her Cabinet, on the charge of kidnapping a lawyer in 2015.

The case is the second to be filed against 76-year-old Hasina since she resigned and fled to India on August 5 following widespread protests against her Awami League-led government over a controversial job quota system.

The victim of the forced disappearance, Supreme Court lawyer Sohel Rana filed the case application, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

Also read: Thousands protest over Bangladesh’s ‘enforced disappearances’

The court of Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Farzana Shakila Sumu Chowdhury ordered the allegations to be accepted as a case.

Other accused in the case include senior ministers of Hasina’s Cabinet, former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, former Law Minister Anisul Haq, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shahidul Haque, former Director General of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Benazir Ahmed, and 25 unidentified members of the RAB.

“On 10 February 2015, I was detained from Sector 5 in Uttara and forced into a vehicle. As soon as I was inside the car, I was nearly made unconscious by electric shocks to my ears and genitals,” the report quoted Mr. Rana as saying.

“After enduring various forms of brutal torture over time, I was eventually released in August in Godagari, Rajshahi,” he said.

On Tuesday, a murder case was lodged against Ms. Hasina and six others over the death of a grocery shop owner during last month’s violent clashes that led to the fall of her government.

Also read | Violence in Bangladesh after Hasina’s ouster stirs fear within Hindu minority in country

Over 230 people were killed in Bangladesh in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina government on August 5, taking the death toll to 560 since the anti-quota protests first started in mid-July.

An interim government was formed after the fall of the Hasina-led government, and its Chief Adviser, 84-year-old Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, announced the portfolios of his 16-member council of advisors last week.