CA appoints Ali Riaz as special assistant
Staff Reporter:
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has appointed Prof Ali Riaz, vice-chairman of the National Consensus Commission, as his special assistant with the rank and status of an adviser.
The Cabinet Division issued a notification on Thursday stating that while serving in this role, Prof Riaz will receive salary, allowances, and other privileges equivalent to an adviser.
Prior to this appointment (13 November 2025), Prof Riaz was serving as Vice-Chairman of the National Consensus Commission, a seven-member body formed on 13 February 2025 under the interim government to review and adopt the recommendations of six reform commissions.
Prof Riaz is a distinguished professor of politics and government at Illinois State University (USA), where he has taught since 2002. He served as Department Chair of the Department of Politics & Government at the university from 2007 to 2017.
He held the title of “University Professor” at Illinois State University from 2012-2018 and was awarded the inaugural Thomas E. Eimermann Professorship 2018-2020.
Internationally, he is a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and is President of the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies (AIBS). In Bangladesh context, he was appointed head of the Constitution Reform Commission (CRC) in September 2024, one of six reform commissions formed after last year’s uprising.
As head of the Constitution Reform Commission, he oversaw the work on constitutional reform, stepping into that role in September 2024 to replace an earlier nominee. As Vice-Chairman of the National Consensus Commission, he worked alongside Chief Adviser Yunus in finalising the “July National Charter” and submitting recommendations for implementation. Academic research: His scholarship specialises in South Asian politics, political Islam, democratic backsliding and the interplay of state and society in Bangladesh. For example, his recent book titles: Pathways of Autocratization: The Tumultuous Journey of Bangladeshi Politics and How Autocrats Rise: Sequences of Democratic Backsliding.