Bangladesh is entering one of the most unsettling periods in its recent history. What should have been a transitional moment has instead become a slow-motion dismantling of our democratic foundation. Since taking charge in August 2024, Muhammad Yunus has made one decision that changed everything: he suspended all activities of the Awami League, effectively blocking nearly 40% of the countryโs voters from taking part in the next election.
With that single order, the upcoming poll stopped being a national election and became something else entirely, a carefully staged exercise designed to keep real competition out.
This isnโt an accident or a misunderstanding. Itโs a clear pattern. As the countryโs largest political force is pushed aside, groups like Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam are getting a level of space and influence they havenโt enjoyed in years. At the same time, attacks on womenโs rights, growing pressure on minorities, and โmoral policingโ in public life are becoming disturbingly common.
Bit by bit, Bangladesh is being steered toward a direction that feels alarmingly familiar, a softer, quieter version of Talibanisation, carried out not by radicals on the streets but by decisions made at the very top of the state.
Yunusโ First Step Toward Taliban-Style Control
When Yunus suspended all activities of the Awami League, it wasnโt just an administrative decision; it was a political blackout unprecedented in Bangladeshโs history. With a single executive order, he managed to silence the countryโs largest political force and effectively shut down the voices of nearly 40% of the electorate. No debate. No due process. No public mandate. Just raw, unchecked power.
This is exactly the kind of tactic used by regimes that fear genuine competition. In Afghanistan, the Taliban neutralised opposition not by winning public trust, but by banning rival parties, restricting political organising, and isolating communities who refused to accept their rule. Yunus may not be enforcing his will with guns, but the method is eerily similar: erase the opposition, then declare the political landscape โopenโ for controlled actors.
Awami League warns of foiling election if barred through false cases, verdicts
Interview With BBC: Sheikh Hasina demands end to election ban
A Tale of Two Elections: Constitutional democracy vs. executive dictatorship
By sidelining the Awami League, Yunus has attempted to engineer a political environment where the outcome of the next election is predetermined. It is a move that mirrors authoritarian logic; if you canโt defeat your opponents, you simply remove them from the field.
And the consequences are profound. When 40% of the population loses its ability to participate, the election becomes meaningless. Democracy becomes theatre. And the state starts to look less like a pluralistic republic and more like a system shaped by the same anti-democratic instincts that define Taliban-style governance: concentrate power, silence opponents, and reshape society without consent.
This executive order wasnโt just an attack on a political party; it was an attack on the very idea of democratic choice. And it marks one of the clearest signs yet that Yunus is steering Bangladesh toward a political model that has more in common with authoritarian Islamist regimes than with the secular, democratic nation its people have always fought to protect.
Yunusโ Islamist Pact: The Backbone of His Talibanisation Agenda
As Yunus pushes millions of voters out of the democratic process, he is pulling in the very forces Bangladesh has long fought to contain. Lacking public support, he has turned to Jamaat-e-Islami, Hefazat-e-Islam, and other extremist networks as his new political base. These groups, once restricted for violence and radical agendas, are now enjoying fresh legitimacy, freedom, and protection in exchange for mobilising support for Yunus.
Inside the state, the shift is unmistakable. Secular administrators are being purged, while Islamist-friendly actors rise into key positions. Law enforcement seems far more interested in chasing AL supporters than in monitoring the radicals who once targeted minorities, women, and cultural institutions. The power equation is clear: the state is being reshaped to suit Yunusโ extremist allies.
And the social consequences are already visible. Attacks on secular media, cultural spaces, academics, and womenโs rights are increasing. Cancelled womenโs sports, moral policing, and pressure on institutions to follow Hefazat-style norms show how radical ideas are creeping into everyday life.
British MP Bob Blackman urges โfree, inclusiveโ elections in Bangladesh
US-funded regime-change elements active again as Bangladesh election nears
Interview With Reuters: Sheikh Hasina champions fair, inclusive elections
This is how Talibanisation takes root, not with a single dramatic moment, but through a steady alliance with extremists, the quiet capture of state machinery, and the slow erosion of social freedoms. Yunus is not just tolerating radical forces; he is empowering them, and Bangladesh is beginning to look alarmingly like a nation being steered toward a Taliban-style future.
A Rigged Election, A Pre-Decided Future
By banning the Awami League from contesting, Yunus has turned the next election into a manufactured ritual. With the largest political force removed, the outcome is fixed, paving the way for an Islamist-influenced order built through a ballot that means nothing. This is the Taliban model in practice: elections held for appearance, power decided in advance.
The cost is enormous. Bangladeshโs secular identity now hangs by a thread. As extremist factions gain political ground, the country faces rising intolerance, shrinking freedoms, and a growing threat to minorities. The instability doesnโt stop at our borders; it undermines regional security and damages Bangladeshโs international standing.
Yunus has pushed the nation to a dangerous edge. Whatโs coming is not just a flawed election; itโs the quiet construction of a Taliban-style state, engineered through exclusion, fear, and a rigged political process.
By: albd.org
English 
Bengali