In a significant victory for critics of the interim government’s controversial port privatisation push, the High Court of Bangladesh has suspended all proceedings related to the handover of the Chittagong Port’s New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to a foreign operator.
The verbal order, issued on Thursday by a bench led by Justice Fatema Najeeb, comes amid escalating protests from dockworkers, opposition parties, and civil society groups, who decry the deals as a “sovereign surrender” to Western interests.
The court directed an immediate freeze on activities under the proposed agreement until the ongoing writ petition is fully resolved. Representing the state, Attorney General Md. Asaduzzaman assured the bench that no further steps would be taken, providing temporary relief to demonstrators who have staged hunger strikes, rallies, and shutdowns at the port—Bangladesh’s vital economic artery handling over 90% of the country’s trade.
The case stems from a writ petition filed by Mirza Walid Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Youth Economists Forum, challenging the legality of awarding the NCT operations to UAE-based DP World, a firm with deep ties to US defense contracts.
The petition names the Secretary of Shipping, Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), and Chief Executive Officer of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Authority as respondents. It demands transparent, competitive public bidding in line with national laws and policies, citing an April 26 report in a national daily titled “New Mooring Terminal has everything, yet why is it going to foreigners” and similar exposés in various media.
This writ builds on a July 30 High Court rule issued by Justices Habibul Gani and Sheikh Tahsin Ali, which questioned the entire process and called for fair tendering before any foreign appointment. Senior lawyers Zainul Abedin, Ahsanul Karim, Barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon, and Barrister Kaiser Kamal argued the petition, highlighting procedural lapses and national security risks.
Broader Context
The NCT suspension arrives at a flashpoint in Bangladesh’s post-uprising turmoil, following the August 2024 ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The interim administration under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus—installed via student-led protests but lacking electoral legitimacy—has faced accusations of pursuing a hidden “fourth agenda”: quietly auctioning off strategic assets to foreign entities while publicly focusing on trials of Hasina’s allies, institutional reforms, and elections.
Yunus’ team has inked two major deals in recent days, fueling outrage. On November 17—the same day a court verdict against Hasina prompted nationwide security alerts—the CPA signed a 30-year concession (extendable) for Chittagong’s Laldia Container Terminal (LCT) with Denmark’s APM Terminals (a Maersk subsidiary), injecting $550 million in foreign direct investment but granting operational control to a Western firm. Simultaneously, Dhaka’s Pangaon Inland Container Terminal was leased to Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) for 22 years.
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Critics, including PPP Authority CEO Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud, defend these as job creators and capacity boosters—aiming to handle 5.36 million TEUs annually by 2030 with green tech and revenue sharing. Yet, opponents argue that the haste, opacity, and long-term bindings (up to 30 years) exceed the interim government’s 18-24 month mandate, bypassing parliamentary scrutiny and the Chittagong Port Authority Act’s transparency requirements.
Veteran journalist Masood Kamal, in a viral YouTube monologue on his “Kotha” channel that garnered over a million views, lambasted the moves as an “evil agenda to sell off the country.” Dismissing Yunus’s touted “three goals” as a smokescreen, Kamal alleged a blueprint for expatriate advisers—with dual US, UK, Swiss, and Dutch citizenships—to hand resources to “foreign friends.”
“A government without public mandate is signing 22-30 year contracts. Do they have the authority? Has there been international tender? What are the terms?” he thundered, warning of security perils: “Weapons can come in, intelligence can go out through these terminals.”
Geopolitically, the deals stoke fears of U.S. encirclement in the Bay of Bengal. Exiled Hasina has claimed her downfall stemmed from refusing American basing rights on St. Martin Island, a narrative amplified by recent U.S. footprints: joint exercises in Chittagong since September, the USS Fitzgerald’s port call, and a planned U.S.-backed drone facility. Analysts link DP World’s NCT bid to Washington’s interests, potentially countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative—Beijing, Bangladesh’s top trader, expressed unease after Yunus’s March 2025 visit secured aid but yielded Western-leaning pacts. Complicating matters, a Russian corvette docked in Chittagong on November 17, while surging Pakistan-Bangladesh ties (including naval visits and cargo routes) signal shifting alliances in the regional power vacuum.
#### Mounting Opposition: From Streets to Political Heavyweights
Protests have intensified since mid-November. Chittagong Port workers, under the Shramik Union, launched hunger strikes and shutdowns, decrying job losses for 2 million youth entrants amid automation risks. A November 18 torchlit march by the Bandar Rokkha Parishad drew hundreds chanting against “foreign looting.”
The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) rallied thousands at Suhrawardy Udyan on November 14, vowing a protest calendar—including an Election Commission siege on November 24—to “derail this betrayal of the July uprising.” CPB leaders Mujahidul Islam Selim and General Secretary Abdullah Kafi Ratan accused Yunus of “puppeteering for Western powers,” drawing parallels to Hasina’s India ties.
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Opposition parties have united in condemnation. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) slammed the “sell-off,” with Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi warning at a Patuakhali rally of US naval ambitions and debt traps akin to Hasina’s Adani deals.
BNP leader Nilofar Chowdhury Moni, on talk show Tritiyo Matra, highlighted 17 foreign (mostly dual-national American) advisers in Yunus’ circle, arguing their US loyalty oaths prioritize external agendas. Jamaat-e-Islami echoed demands for scrutiny, while civil society groups like the Ganatantrik Odhikar Committee—led by Prof. Anu Muhammad and Advocate Shafiuddin Kabir Abid—demanded a halt, citing World Bank IFC consultancy biases and tariff hikes as exploitative.
Journalist MA Aziz, once a Yunus ally, expressed regret on Tritiyo Matra: “If Yunus had held elections in three months, we wouldn’t be in this geopolitical trap.” He alleged secret U.S. clauses for military access and fears of regional carve-outs in Rakhine or Bangladesh’s northeast. Host Zillur Rahman of the Centre for Governance Studies warned of economic collapse—GDP growth at 3-4%, IMF loans stalled—potentially leaving any elected government a “destroyed country.”
Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, key to the post-Hasina transition, reiterated in May and last week that port decisions belong to an elected regime, urging polls by December 2025 amid rifts with Yunus’s camp.
Hope in the Courts, Calls for Elections
The High Court heard arguments on November 18, with today’s session yielding the suspension. Kamal optimistically noted the Attorney General’s assurance of no pre-verdict progress, hoping for a “patriotic” ruling. Yet, with NCT signing eyed for December and economic woes mounting—food shortages, dengue surges, and a November 1 dockers’ strike costing garment exporters $222 million—the pressure builds for Yunus to prioritize elections over “foreign deals.”
As Rizvi urged at his rally, distributing aid to the needy: “Address people’s suffering—or face the masses’ verdict.” In a polarized nation, the court’s intervention underscores a fragile check on unchecked ambition, but only swift democracy can resolve the sovereignty standoff.
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