Dhaka: Yunus meets the Apostolic Nuncio, focus on minorities

Msgr Kevin S. Randall told the new chief advisor of the pontiff's concerns about Christians and Rohingya refugees. In just over a month, the interim government has initiated several reforms, but order has not been restored everywhere and it is still unclear when elections will be held.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - On 9 September the Apostolic Nuncio to Bangladesh, Msgr Kevin S. Randall, met with Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor to the interim government created after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled to India.

At the Rashtriya Guest House Jamuna in Dhaka, the two discussed various issues, including the protection of religious minorities in the country. The nuncio proposed the creation of an institution for interreligious dialogue between the Vatican Delegation for Interreligious Dialogue and Bangladeshi scholars of Islam.

He went on to emphasise the need to increase humanitarian assistance for over one million Rohingya refugees living in camps in Cox's Bazar. To which the Chief Advisor responded by asking for the Vatican's support. After the meeting, Msgr Randall told AsiaNews he shared with Yunus ‘that Pope Francis is always concerned about the plight of the displaced people. The Church in Bangladesh, through Caritas, has been helping the Rohingya since 2017’.

The archbishop also mentioned the pontiff's call for an international treaty on artificial intelligence launched in June on World Peace Day. Present at the meeting were Lamiya Morshed, UN Secretary for Sustainable Development Goals Affairs, and Kazi Russel Pervez, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On the other hand, Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for fostering the development of microcredit in Bangladesh, emphasised that the interim government's main goal is to improve security after last month's protests ( strikes and demonstrations are still ongoing in some outlying areas) and to implement major reform programmes.

In just over a month, the situation in the capital, Dhaka, has almost returned to normal. Special attention has been paid to the financial sector: new management boards have been set up to free banks from the control of large debtors. Proposals were passed to reduce corruption and eliminate money laundering schemes through the creation of a committee to investigate irregularities in the capital market.

Laws restricting freedom of the press were repealed and an international convention on enforced disappearances, which during the previous administration were used by the police to suppress opposition and dissent, was signed.

The interim government also started negotiations with political parties. The expert Al Masud Hasanuzzaman pointed out some positive developments: ‘There has been a reduction of stagnation within the administration. The government has been accepted internationally and is pursuing an independent foreign policy'.

‘The executive has brought some relief, but law and order has not yet been fully restored. The police force remains disorganised. Those who are unwilling to cooperate should be sacked and their positions filled by competent people,' political scientist Dilara Chowdhury commented instead.

'To restore democracy, we have to go back to the political party system. This process cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely. The government should present a roadmap with a clear timeline of what will be achieved and when. Perhaps not everything will be realised in time, but a roadmap is essential.’