Bangladesh Heading for Abyss: Yunus’ Plan for an Islamic ‘Second Republic’

The last weeks of June and July 2025 could mark dramatic and unprecedented political developments in Bangladesh, with Muhammad Yunus determined to consolidate his power as an oppressive “Sultan” of a so-called “Second Republic,” annulling the secular 1972 Constitution.

At the heart of this transformation is the “ July Declaration ,” which, if implemented, would transform Yunus’s “interim” government into a “revolutionary” government. By scrapping the constitution, Yunus would gain absolute authority, with the power to dismiss President Muhammad Shahabuddin and Army Chief General Waker Uz Zaman, and replace the Bangladesh Armed Forces with an “ Islamic Revolutionary Army ” (IRA). This is the fear that is spreading in India, which also fears a rise in hostility towards it.

Bangladesh risks falling into the dark abyss of a radical Islamic Caliphate, more oppressive than Khomeini's Iran, militarized Pakistan, or Erdoğan's autocratic Turkey.

Yunus has already anticipated this transformation, announcing a “ July Document ” – a set of reform proposals, apparently agreed upon by all political parties – that will be presented to the nation as the basis for a “welfare-oriented state.”

In December 2024, his press office denied any connection with the July Declaration, calling it a private initiative unrelated to the interim government. A strategic move to avoid criticism while preparing for a full-blown coup.

The true intentions of Yunus and his allies

Leaders of the National Citizen Party (NCP), Yunus’s main ally, were more vocal. Hasnat Abdullah described the July Declaration as a tool to make the ruling Awami League irrelevant until last year, comparing it to Nazi forces and announcing the “burial” of the 1972 Constitution.

Sarzis Alam, another NCP leader, called the declaration a “guideline for future governance” that would reflect the aspirations of all Bangladeshis. The reality is far more disturbing. The NCP, along with the Student Anti-Discrimination Movement and other jihadist entities implicated in the anti-Hasina coup that left hundreds dead — including police officers, Awami League supporters and religious minorities — are pushing to pass the July Declaration before the next elections. They fear that a democratically elected government could try Yunus and his Islamist allies for high treason and crimes against humanity.

A February 12, 2025, report by the UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR) documents shocking details in Chapter 6 of lynchings, targeted assassinations and brutal violence by jihadist groups in coordination with Yunus. His regime censored this chapter, promoting only the parts critical of the previous Awami League government, while a massive, heavily funded media campaign painted his government as a beacon of justice.

A plan orchestrated with international support

According to Indian media, evidence is mounting that the July Declaration is part of a plan orchestrated by Yunus, with the support of elements of the US “deep state” and Pakistan’s ISI, to destabilize Bangladesh, dismantle democratic institutions and control the country’s strategic resources.

With minimal public support (about 5%), Yunus knows that free elections would be disastrous for him, given the popularity of the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Having banned the Awami League from elections, Yunus now aims to marginalize the BNP as well, orchestrating a sham election to consolidate power.

In this context, the role of the United Nations raises serious questions. UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis expressed “unwavering solidarity” with Yunus’s reform process, supporting the ban on the Awami League, despite its 45 million voters out of a total of 120 million. Even more disturbingly, Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, admitted that the UN discouraged the Bangladeshi army from intervening during the July-August 2024 protests, coordinated by jihadist factions, by threatening to exclude them from peacekeeping missions. This facilitated the coup that overthrew the legitimate government of Sheikh Hasina.

Towards a Caliphate?

As Yunus prepares to receive the “ King Charles Harmony Award ” in the UK, observers in Dhaka suspect he may declare a “Second Republic” from abroad, appointing himself president and replacing the military leadership with loyalists from jihadist groups such as Jamaat-e-Islami , Hizb ut-Tahrir and Ansar al-Islam (affiliated to Al-Qaeda). This could lead to the proclamation of an “Islamic Republic” or even a “Caliphate,” suspending elections and installing an indefinite revolutionary government.

To curry favor with a possible Trump administration, Yunus could cede the strategic port of Chittagong to DP World, offer a transit corridor to Myanmar’s Rakhine State and a US military base on St Martin’s Island , as well as hand over control of Lalmonirhat airport and Bangladesh’s ordnance factory to the US via Pakistani or Turkish intermediaries. A series of rather unlikely moves, but ones that have been mooted by Indian parties that are very unfavorable to his continued tenure in power. A curious claim since the Bangladesh government has until now been seen as close to China.

India wants army intervention

In this tense situation, it seems clear that India would feel threatened by a rapprochement between Türkiye, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with an Islamic rapprochement of these countries.

At this point, New Delhi would not be averse to a secularist intervention by the Bangladesh Army and General Waker Uz Zaman against Yunus. Without an intervention by the army, India fears a destabilized and Islamized Bangladesh that would pose great difficulties to the Hindu minorities in the country, in addition to forming an opposing block to India, which already suffers from the fear of being surrounded.

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The article Bangladesh Towards an Abyss: Yunus' Plan for an Islamic “Second Republic” comes from Scenari Economici .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/bangladesh-yunus-seconda-repubblica-islamic/ on Mon, 09 Jun 2025 17:41:51 +0000.