No anti-Hindu violence: Yunus tells Zeteo

Staff Reporter :

Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus dismissed allegations of communal persecution during his administration in an interview with Zeteo’s Mehdi Hasan, conducted on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“One of India’s current specialties is spreading fake news,” the Nobel laureate told Zeteo, adding, “There is no anti-Hindu violence.”

Last November, roughly 30,000 Hindus in Bangladesh staged protests against Yunus’s interim government, prompting US President Donald Trump to describe Bangladesh’s treatment of Hindus as “barbaric.”

Yunus took over as interim leader last year following mass student protests that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“I was surprised when people chose me as interim leader,” Yunus said, noting that he had accepted the role reluctantly. “I told the passionate protestors at the time, ‘If you have sacrificed so much, I will change my mind.'”

However, challenges have persisted since then. Zeteo reports that robbery cases have reached a six-year high, dozens of police officers were killed after Hasina’s departure, and some officers completely abandoned their posts.