Following the regime change in Bangladesh on August 5, 2024 as a result of the monsoon revolution, the Awami League stands banned. Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's palace has now been converted into a museum reflecting a 'hall of shame'. However, this paradigm shift after August 5, 2025 doesn't mean that the country is out of crisis. In fact, the caretaker regime of Dr Mohammad Yunus is sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire of crises and a consensus on political reforms continues to elude it.

Few years ago, a very few people would have imagined that Hasina who remained the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1996-2001 and then from 2009-2024 would be booted out of power as a result of a popular uprising. When in June 2024, students' protests got an impetus on the issue of quota system, Hasina ordered security forces to crush the uprising, leading to 1,400 deaths. On August 4, 2024 when the movement against her rule was at its peak, more than 100,000 protesters had planned to storm her palace. On that occasion, Bangladesh Army's Chief of Staff Wakar-Uz-Zaman suggested to Hasina to either face demonstrators or leave the country. She took the second option. Demonstrators stormed her palace after she had fled in a helicopter to India. The rest is history.

A year after the monsoon revolution, it is time to analyse how Bangladesh can move on the road to genuine democracy through transparent and credible elections and transfer of power to elected representatives. Dr Yunus had pledged to reform Bangladesh so that the damage........

© The Express Tribune