MD. Akter

For the Culture | Global Affairs | Foreign Policy | Even if you are not ready for the day, it cannot always be night | @yaledebate

[Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office @FCDOGovUK]

A busy week at the @UN.

[David Bergman @TheDavidBergman]

Don't be fooled by the (welcome) criticism #Bangladesh's political opposition has levelled at the weaknesses of the government's National Human Rights Commission.

Like the government, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party's concern for human rights extends only as far as themselves and their allies. They do not care how human rights apply to their political opponents.

The evidence for this is stark. Neither party has said a word against the government's widespread and systematic — and I choose those words advisedly — policy of arbitrary detention now being carried out against Awami League politicians and those linked to the party. So many of these are arbitrary precisely because they are not based on actual evidence, but rather political persecution.

This policy, which has left hundreds detained for close to two years without charge, is running alongside a parallel policy of many politicised prosecutions, which includes some of those taking place at the International Crimes Tribunal.

If Jamaat and the NCP genuinely want a strong National Human Rights Commission, why are they not raising their voices right now against the government's policy of arbitrary detentions and politicised prosecutions?

The need for accountability for serious crimes committed during the Awami League period has now become a pretext — for the Bangladesh government and the political opposition alike — to commit (or support) further human rights violations against their shared political enemies.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@BBCWorld The difference is Nepal had a genuine Gen Z movement, but Bangladesh just had Jamaat-e-Islami Islamists LARPing as a student movement.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@oolala0013 @TheDavidBergman I like lawyers who follow the law. Hasinas trial was done but was far from fair and will forever have a massive black mark on it. I’ve always been very open that Hasinas case should have been referred to the ICJ by the interim government.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@nomhossain Name and shame them

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@naomi2009 lol he still got paid, the Islamic party that was funding must be disappointed though

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@GuruOfStamina @shaunking Jamaat got whipped out of the election 😂😂😂. lol little incel who thinks women should stay home and not work is mad 😂.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@Fazzanelli @shaunking Wow so women having the right to work if they want to is “progressive” ? Seriously man you need to come out of your incel cave.

Also, all the videos show jamaat trying to stuff ballot boxes and they still lost. Bruh even god didn’t want you guys to win 😂

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@Fazzanelli @shaunking You’re actually hilarious man! Your side is loosing and I’m the one coping?😂 and why do you seem to think equality is only a western value? SMH actually disgraceful.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@SultanDavi4486 @shaunking Please educate yourself before typing…

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@Fazzanelli @shaunking Buddy what world you living in? Did your sexist party win the majority? No it didn’t. Cry harder 😂

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@Fazzanelli @shaunking embarrassing election results for your side😂. You people don’t even try and hide your sexist views. Yikes

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@nomhossain @JonFDanilowicz Jon’s basically the guy standing next to the mugger going 'hey, you should be grateful they only took your wallet instead of your life. 😂

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@TheDavidBergman Took him long enough. He definitely needs to come out and give his reasoning. His silence on the courts flawed proceedings was/is complicity.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@MstkmXp @BabarHoneyX @JonFDanilowicz Umm still a hypocrite.

Why take the meeting with them in the first place?

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@MstkmXp @BabarHoneyX @JonFDanilowicz Do you think that makes Rahman’s actions any less hypocritical?

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

@TheDavidBergman This may be a debate worth having, but raising it immediately after someone’s death feels too soon. There is a difference between long term political accountability and turning a moment of bereavement into moral judgement.

[MD. Akter @itsmdakter]

When I refer to evidence, I’m mainly looking at IMF and World Bank programme documentation rather than partisan sources.

Bangladesh entered an IMF programme in 2023 (ECF/EFF), which involved regular review missions, central bank data verification, stress testing, and banking-sector conditionality. The IMF’s staff reports and review documents consistently discuss banking weaknesses, regulatory forbearance, and NPL risks.

All available on the IMF website

Bangladesh: Second Reviews Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement and the Arrangement Under the Extended Fund Facility, June 2024 https://t.co/GPT3FX3d1M

IMF Country Reports from Article IV Consultations (2019–2023)
https://t.co/sHs5MZ0VWV

Similarly, World Bank programme documents and Development Policy Credits over the last decade repeatedly flag governance problems in the banking sector, related-party lending, and supervision gaps, but treat these as known and monitored risks rather than hidden fraud.
https://t.co/afSAvd16Kb

My point is not to deny serious weaknesses under the Awami League, but to distinguish between long-standing regulatory softness (which international lenders were clearly aware of) and the much stronger claim that losses were concealed through falsified books. The sharp jump in NPLs in 2025 appears closely tied to changes in classification and recognition rules under the interim government.

I’d genuinely welcome a non-politicised analysis of the League’s development record that separates institutional weaknesses from narrative claims about concealment.