Bangladesh army chief, Yunus differ on holding elections

The interim government’s inability to fix a timeline for the elections and a controversial proposal to establish a corridor from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to Myanmar’s Rakhine state to help Rohingya refugees are among the key issues of divergence between the army and the interim government, people in New Delhi and Dhaka said on condition of anonymity.

Nobel laureate Yunus became head of the caretaker administration last August after protests spearheaded by students led to the dramatic collapse of the government of Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in self-exile in New Delhi. In recent months, Yunus has told interlocutors from several countries, including India, that he intends holding elections by the year-end provided certain reforms are carried out. If the reforms require more time, he has suggested the elections could be held by mid-2026.

The issue of the elections figured in two key meetings this week in Dhaka – a meeting on the law and order situation chaired by Yunus on Tuesday that was attended by army chief Gen Waker-Uz-Zaman, navy chief Admiral Mohammad Nazmul Hassan and air force chief Air Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan, and an internal meeting of senior army officials held on Wednesday that was addressed by Waker-Uz-Zaman, the people said.