The people of Bangladesh are proud of their military structure and hold support for their golden sons. In any national need, it is our military to come forward and stand beside the people and protect the sovereignty of Bangladesh.

The military leadership’s rock-solid formation we also experienced once again last year in the month of August while the whole country was thrown into deep danger of civil war. But the key military figures rescued the nation from horrific levels of bloodshed. Indeed, even Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, despite having had a full-scale opportunity to seize state power, has pledged unwavering support for the country’s people and an interim government headed by Professor Muhammad Yunus. He vowed, “come what may,” to ensure the completion of crucial reforms and the holding of elections within this year. In early August 2024, General Waker and his forces refrained from firing at the protesting crowd during the intense student-led movement against Sheikh Hasina, which ultimately led to the resignation of the long-serving prime minister after 15 years in power.

It is very worthy to mention here, referring to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk’s statement, on March 5, during an interview on BBC’s HARDtalk, he stated that the United Nations had explicitly warned the Bangladesh military that any involvement in suppressing the protests could jeopardize their participation in UN peacekeeping missions. “We actually gave the warning to the army that if they get involved, it means they may not be able to be a troop-contributing country anymore”, Turk disclosed. “As a result, we saw changes when Muhammad Yunus took over as the new chief adviser of the interim administration”.

But the time record shows, that on August 3, the Chief of Army Staff, General Waker, announced, “No more bullets, as students have the right to protest.” On the night of........

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