Dhaka, Feb 11 (NationPress) Mohammad Harun Al Rashid, an experienced Bangladeshi diplomat, in a candid interview with a prominent think tank, characterized the upcoming national election on Thursday as one of the most disgraceful in Bangladesh's history.

He cautioned that the interim government's Chief Advisor, Muhammad Yunus, known for his ability to disguise the grotesque as virtue, will face accountability this time.

In his dialogue with the Sri Lanka-based Trinco Centre for Strategic Studies (TSST), Rashid stated, "Like everything Yunus deems 'beautiful', this election is among the ugliest in Bangladesh's history, and this is not an exaggeration. Yunus has been adept at rebranding the grotesque as virtue, but this time he won't escape responsibility."

He emphasized that the current situation does not represent a legitimate election but a struggle between two factions of the 2024 'jihadist coalition' that came to power by ousting former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

On one side stands the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies, while the other comprises the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami and its associates.

Rashid, addressing TSST, drew parallels between the BNP and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, and likened Jamaat to Hamas in Palestine, underscoring that neither party adheres to democratic principles, both reflecting Islamist extremism.

"No authentic democratic party has been allowed to participate. Yunus is openly maneuvering to dictate the outcome to ensure he remains pivotal in the next government. His preferred allies are Jamaat and its affiliates, including the NCP, whose members acted as suicide operatives during the 2024 violence masked as the so-called quota movement," the diplomat stated.

"Furthermore, foreign actors, particularly from the West, are seeking the most compliant proxies. You may call it an election, but it is nothing of the sort," he asserted.

When asked to address Bangladesh's abrupt shift from a secular republic to one increasingly perceived through a lens of terror, Rashid explained that this transformation signifies a setback not only for Bangladesh but for humanity in the 21st century.

"The destruction wrought by eighteen months of Yunus's illegitimate rule has reversed decades of progress. It has devastated an economy painstakingly rebuilt under Sheikh Hasina and systematically eroded Bangladesh's secular identity, historical consciousness, and the moral legacy of its Liberation War. This is not just political decline; it is civilizational destruction," he noted.

In response to inquiries about his assertion that Bangladesh has 'descended into terror' under Yunus, despite his established image as a liberal figure in the West, Rashid remarked that those who have closely observed Yunus consider him a swindler, an international charlatan skilled at captivating Western patrons through rhetoric and reputation.