Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin said on Thursday he plans to step down midway through his term after parliamentary elections in February, telling Reuters he felt humiliated by the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
As head of state, Shahabuddin is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but his role is largely ceremonial and executive power rests with the prime minister and cabinet of the predominantly Muslim country of 173 million people, Reuters reported.
However, its position gained importance when a student-led uprising forced longtime Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to New Delhi in August 2024, leaving it as the last remaining constitutional body after Parliament was dissolved.
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Shahabuddin, 75, was elected unopposed for a five-year term in 2023 as the candidate of Hasa’s Awami League party, which was banned from running in the February 12 election.
“Yunus Weaned Me”
“I’m interested in leaving. I’m interested in going out,” he said in a WhatsApp interview from his official residence in Dhaka, in what he said was his first media interview since taking office.
“Until there are elections, I should continue,” Shahabuddin said. “I hold my office because of the constitutionally held presidency.”
He later said that despite his personal desire to resign, he would let the next government decide his future.
“If they tell me they plan to elect their own president, I will back down,” he said late Thursday.
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The president said Yunus had not met him for almost seven months, his press office had been removed, and in September his portraits had been removed from Bangladeshi embassies around the world.
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“All the consulates, embassies and high commissions had a portrait of the president, a picture of the president, and all of a sudden it was removed overnight,” he said. “People are getting bad news that maybe the president is going to be removed. I felt very humiliated.”
Shahabuddin said he had written to Yunus regarding the portraits, but no action had been taken. “My voice was suppressed,” he added.
Yunus’ press advisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President in contact with army commander
The president said he was in regular contact with army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, whose troops stood aside in August 2024 amid deadly protests against Hasina, sealing the veteran politician’s fate. Shahabuddin said Zaman had made it clear that he had no intention of gaining power.
Bangladesh has a history of military rule, but Zaman said he wants democracy to return.
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Shahabuddin said that although some student protesters had initially demanded his resignation, no political party had asked him to do so in recent months.
Asked if Hasina, who ruled for 20 years, had tried to contact him after her escape, Shahabuddin refused to answer. According to Reuters, he said he had been independent and not affiliated with any party since becoming president.
(With inputs from Reuters)
