New York, September 27, 2025 — Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus’s interim regime has plunged Bangladesh into “horrors” reminiscent of fascism, exiled leaders and activists charged at a high-profile diaspora gathering in Manhattan.
They accused Yunus of presiding over mass killings, systemic rapes, economic collapse, and an Islamist-driven assault on the nation’s founding ideals, while aligning with foreign powers to entrench his rule.
At the Meet The Voice discussion on ‘Bangladesh at the Crossroads: Global Reflections’ at Ubani Georgian Restaurant, former Foreign Minister and UN Ambassador Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen delivered a blistering keynote.
He described Yunus as a Bangladeshi Mussolini who “usurped powers bypassing democratic procedures illegally” and unleashed radical mobs in the style of Blackshirts.
“Bangladesh has been dragged from hopes to horrors in just one year,” Momen declared, presenting his report Current Crisis in Bangladesh. “Mussolini relied on propaganda and fear. Yunus is using jihadi mobs, censorship, and state terror.”
Economic Collapse and Judicial Capture
Momen warned that GDP growth had plunged from 6.8% to 3.3%, extreme poverty had nearly doubled, and millions of women had lost their jobs. “Thirty-nine million people can no longer afford two meals a day. Two hundred sixty-eight factories have shut down, and half of all industries may close by year’s end,” he said.
He alleged the judiciary has been turned into “a tool of extortion,” with the Chief Justice illegally dismissed and jailed. More than 28,000 false murder cases have been filed against 300,000 opposition supporters, intellectuals, and journalists.
“Democracy survives only if there is free media and a strong judiciary,” Momen said. “Without them, we risk disaster.”
Foreign Collusion and Proxy Wars
Momen questioned Yunus’s international ties, accusing him of “buying Chinese weapons and technology while silencing Awami League leaders who historically stood with the United States.”
Barrister Nijhoom Majumdar a noted human rights activist and lawyer alleged that Pakistan’s ISI was operating freely in Bangladesh. “The West is trying to use Bangladesh as a proxy battlefield against China and India,” he warned. “Why does the U.S. Army find it necessary to conduct joint exercises in Bangladesh while Yunus terrorizes his own people?”
Voices from the Diaspora
Former Press Minister Shaban Mahmood said, “The situation must be changed, it cannot continue. Journalists should have the right to write freely. A free and fair election under an impartial caretaker government is the only way forward.”
Exiled National Press Club President Farida Yasmin alleged “more than 600 journalists have been falsely implicated in murder cases by the Yunus government and their cohorts.”
Dr. Pradip Ranjan Kar vowed to “rescue Bangladesh and remove this autocratic killer government,” while The Voice Editor Dastagir Jahangir charged that “at least 3,240 police officers were killed by this government.”
Senior journalist Lablu Ansar added, “No one asked me to join the Freedom Fight in 1971, but I joined—and now again we are doing the same to liberate our country from the new fascist regime of Dr. Yunus.”
Islamist Threats to Bangladesh’s Ideals
Dr. Dilip Nath accused pro-Pakistani Islamists of seeking to abolish Mujibbad, the founding philosophy of Bangladesh, and replace it with Khelafat. “Yunus is creating the enabling environment for them,” he said.
Dr. Rabi Alam warned that mobs “spirited by ISIS, Al Qaeda and Taliban” were fueling terror, urging unity to restore justice and human rights.
Call for International Action
Senior Awami League leaders Engineer Mohammad Ali Siddiq and Barkat Alam, President of Bangabandhu Foundation Abdul Kader Mian, Executive Editor of the Voice & former Press Ministers Sajjad Hosain Sabuj and Shaban Mahmud; senior journalists Shehabuddin Kisslu; Lablu Ansar, Pinaki Talukder, General Secretary of 71er Prohori Shikriti Barua; Journalist and Women Rights Activist Rowshan Ara Nipa spoke among others in the discussion meeting.
The speakers urged global powers not to remain silent. “This government is illegal, unconstitutional, and catastrophic,” Majumdar concluded. “If the international community fails to act, Bangladesh will not just collapse—it will be transformed into a proxy battlefield of terror and tyranny.”
At the close of the event, Executive Editor Sajjad Hossain Sabuj thanked everyone for attending the program and formally ended the meeting.
