Even as the world’s eyes remained riveted on the India-Pakistan conflict last week, three significant developments have reshaped Bangladesh’s political landscape—each more consequential than the other.

Last Saturday, the Bangladesh government banned the Awami League—the party that led the nation’s liberation struggle in 1971 and which has governed the country for nearly half of its five-and-half decades of existence. This unprecedented move marks a turning point in the nation’s history, signalling the collapse of the post-1971 secular-nationalist order.

Secondly, the Islamist forces that were always behind the August 2024 coup d’état, which drove out the Sheikh Hasina government, have now come openly to the fore. Having used and then jettisoned their temporary allies, ranging from the student movement to the left, they now stand alone at the helm of affairs.

Their message is clear: 1971 has been reversed. These fundamentalist groups are now attempting to mould Bangladesh in their own image—an Islamist state that looks not towards its liberation history but toward a fundamentalist revival aligned ideologically with Pakistan.

Thirdly, the embattled Yunus government—desperate to protect itself from mounting public anger over its failure to deliver basic goods, ensure law and order, and prevent the country from sliding into chaos—has chosen to side with the Islamist agenda to protect itself from a possible counter-putsch.

The public fury against Yunus has also been fuelled by his government’s decision to cede to a demand by the United States to give a corridor through Chittagong to the Arakan Army-held areas in Myanmar’s........

© Free Press Journal