As Bangladesh teeters toward December elections under a reinstatedโbut selectively appliedโcaretaker system, a chorus of outrage is swelling against the interim government of Muhammad Yunus. Labelled as “Jamaat-controlled” due to its alliances with the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islamiโinfamous for its 1971 wartime collaboration with Pakistani forcesโthe administration stands accused of systematically dismantling the hard-won symbols of the Liberation War.
From vandalised monuments and subdued national observances to the arrests of ageing freedom fighters and efforts to whitewash the genocide, detractors warn of a deliberate assault on the secular, Bengali nationalist ethos that defined independence.
The furore has intensified following the announcement that Victory Day on December 16 will again forego its iconic military parades, a decision Home Affairs Adviser Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury defended it as routine but many see it as emblematic of broader capitulation.
“This isn’t oversight; it’s erasure,” fumed exiled Awami League leader Sajeeb Wazed Joy in a viral X post, linking the snub to Yunus’s “extra love for Pakistan” amid surging bilateral ties. With Jamaat leaders like Ameer Shafiqur Rahman now advising on reforms, public sentimentโpolled at over 70% disapproval on social platformsโfears a creeping Islamization that prioritises Islamabad’s sensitivities over Dhaka’s scars.
Vandalism and Demolition: Assault on 1971’s Physical Legacy
Since the August 2024 uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has witnessed a wave of targeted attacks on Liberation War memorials, shrines, and statuesโacts decried as state-tolerated iconoclasm. In February 2025, mobs razed the Mujibnagar Memorial Complex in Meherpur, a site commemorating the provisional government’s 1971 declaration of independence, while Bir Shreshtha plaques honouring the war’s 10 greatest heroes were defaced in Chittagong and Sylhet. The Jamaat-sponsored mobs also targeted all monuments and sculptures of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation. The Bangabandhu Memorial Museum has been looted, torched, and demolished several times under the patronage of Pakistan-linked elements.
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Hasina, from her Indian exile, accused Yunus’ forces of orchestrating these “cultural genocides,” claiming they echo the Pakistani army’s wartime depredations.
Civil society reports document over 50 such incidents by mid-2025, including the torching of the Dhaka Genocide Memorial and assaults on the mass grave site for 1971 victims. “These aren’t random; they’re sanctioned to appease Jamaat, whose Razakar militias dug those graves,” alleged Prof. Anu Muhammad of the Ganatantrik Odhikar Committee in a November press conference. Rights groups like Human Rights Support Society (HRSS) have linked the violence to lax policing under Yunus, with no arrests in 80% of cases, fueling fears of a “second partition” along religious lines.
Persecution of Veterans: Arrests, Assaults, and ‘Terrorism’ Charges
Compounding the symbolic destruction is a chilling crackdown on 1971’s living guardians. Over 200 freedom fightersโMuktijoddhasโhave been detained since Yunus’s August 2024 ascension, many slapped with “terrorism” or “sedition” charges for protesting the regime’s policies. In August 2025, a Dhaka court jailed three war veterans, aged 72-78, for allegedly “inciting unrest” at a memorial rally, while a history professor was remanded for lecturing on Jamaat’s wartime atrocities.
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Assaults are rampant: In October, a group of Muktibahini survivors in Gopalganj were beaten by “pro-government mobs” during a commemoration event, with videos showing assailants chanting Jamaat slogans. The OHCHR’s February 2025 report on post-uprising abuses highlighted “disproportionate force” against pro-Awami League gatherings, including freedom fighter vigils, amid blanket arrests mirroring Hasina-era tacticsโironic, given Yunus’s reformist rhetoric. The BNP and Jamaat alliances, once victims, now stand accused of wielding the same tools, with HRSS noting 640 journalist attacks in eight months, many covering war legacy issues.
Exiled Hasina has likened this to “Hasina’s mistakes on steroids,” warning that jailing heroes who fought Pakistan emboldens Islamabad’s denialism.
Subdued National Days: From Parades to ‘Fairs’ of Forgetting
The parade-less Victory Day is merely the latest slight. Independence Day on March 26 saw scaled-back flag-hoisting without student marches, replaced by “unity seminars” that glossed over 1971 specifics. Martyrs’ Day in August featured no wreath-laying at Savar, with Yunus opting for a Zoom address amid “security concerns.” Critics, including Shujan’s Badiul Alam Majumdar, argue these dilutionsโechoing last year’s “Victory Fairs”โdeprive youth of the war’s visceral pride, fostering apathy. “National days aren’t picnics; they’re battle cries against fascism,” thundered a Chittagong Muktijoddha at a November 18 rally.
This pattern, tied to Yunus’ pro-Pakistan thawโcargo routes, naval pacts, and no genocide apology demandsโstokes fears of deference to historical foes.
False Narratives: Releasing War Criminals and Jamaat’s ‘Amnesia’
Perhaps most insidious are efforts to rewrite 1971’s script. In May 2025, Yunus’s government freed Jamaat leader ATM Azharul Islam, convicted of killing 1,256, abducting 17, and raping 13 during the warโa move slammed as “genocide denial” by Amnesty International. Jamaat’s July 2025 “apology” for its roleโframed as a “misunderstanding” rather than collaborationโdrew barbs from historians, with BNP-Jamaat barbs over “true liberation” (1971 vs. 2024 uprising) exposing fractures.
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State media under Yunus has aired segments questioning “myths” of the war’s scale, while textbooks are under review to “balance perspectives,” per the education adviser. Awami League mouthpieces decry this as “propaganda diversion,” linking it to minority assaults and anti-India rhetoric to mask failures. Hasina accused Yunus of “suppressing 1971’s spirit” in a December 2024 video, a charge echoed in August’s “Distortion of History” petition to the Supreme Court.
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These criticisms, amplified by diaspora networks and platforms like X, intersect with Yunus’s “fourth agenda”โport sell-offs and secret US pactsโrisking a “Sisyphean battle” with the past. Army Chief Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman’s calls for December polls underscore military unease, while India’s border alerts signal regional alarm over rising extremism.
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