In a recent Al Jazeera interview, Shafiqul Alam, the press secretary to Dr. Muhammad Yunus, better known as Dustbin Shafiq for his callousness, delivered a series of brazen lies, vengeful tirades, and shameless defenses of the interim government’s illegal and unconstitutional actionsโall while masquerading as a seasoned career journalist turned government mouthpiece.
Shafiqul shamelessly claimed the Jaaat-controlled interim government is “in control” and boasted of record-breaking crowds at political events, while conveniently ignoring the chaos that has engulfed the country since the uprising. His dismissal of serious law-and-order breakdownsโincluding the murder of youth leader and Inqilab Moncho spokesperson Osman Goni, alias Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, and the mob arson attacks on major media houses like The Daily Star and Prothom Aloโis nothing short of deceptive propaganda.
He admitted troops were deployed but “couldnโt prevent the attacks,” then weakly promised investigations into why security forces failedโclassic buck-passing from a regime unwilling to accept responsibility for failing to protect citizens and journalists.
Qatar-based Al Jazeera had campaigned against the Awami League government since 2013 to stop the trial of Jamaat-linked war criminals. Its support for the West-backed Yunus-led interim administration and concocted reports to slander the Awami League are clear evidence of its involvement in the army-jihadist coup of August 5, 2024, which was sponsored by the Hillary-Soros-Yunus-Jamaat clique.
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When confronted with credible allegations from New Age editor Nurul Kabirโthat the government allowed or enabled mob assaults on media figuresโShafiqul resorted to vengeful smears, branding the claims “an absolute lie” and “nonsense” without evidence, demanding proof while offering none himself. This is rich coming from someone who has repeatedly peddled unverified accusations against political opponents. He boasted of arrests based on video footage, yet independent reports highlight ongoing impunity for mob violence, including the coordinated attacks following Hadi’s killing in December 2025.
Shafiqul’s outright rejection of the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression’s concerns about impunity enabling mob attacks is equally dishonest. He deflected by touting his government’s mere 17 months in power and cherry-picking crime statisticsโignoring the spike in vigilante justice, arson, and targeted violence against minorities and critics that has defined this administration.
His praise of the cabinet as “one of the finest” everโpacked with academics, bureaucrats, military officers, and activistsโrings hollow amid widespread criticism of authoritarian overreach. Most egregiously, Shafiqul defended the unconstitutional barring of the Awami League from elections, labelling its members “thugs” and accusing them of armed killings in vengeful, inflammatory rhetoric that reeks of political vendetta rather than impartial journalism.
He downplayed Human Rights Watch’s reports of arbitrary, politically motivated detentions as “valid” based on charges, while failing to address due process violations.
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On minority attacksโincluding the horrific lynching and burning of Hindu worker Dipu Chandra Das over blasphemy allegations in December 2025โShafiqul callously claimed the government “responded adequately,” dismissed reports of widespread communal violence as “exaggerated” (especially in Indian media), and insisted crime rates remained stable. This minimises documented surges in hate crimes and mob lynchings under the interim regime’s watch.
Shafiqul’s attacks on exiled former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinaโcalling her a “notorious mass murderer”โand his confidence in her eventual extradition reveal a deeply partisan, revenge-driven stance unfit for any credible press secretary, let alone a former journalist. His dismissal of concerns over Islamist influence (such as the cancellation of teacher recruitments) and his portrayal of the economy’s “recovery” under Yunus ignore persistent instability and public discontent.
Shafiqul Alam’s interview is a textbook example of how a once-respected career journalist has descended into a lying propagandist, spewing vengeful rhetoric and whitewashing illegal, unconstitutional abuses of power.
His repeated claims that “our record speaks for itself” only highlight a legacy of failure, denial, and authoritarian overreachโone that history, and the Bangladeshi people, will judge far more harshly than his self-congratulatory spin.
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