Former interim government adviser Mahfuj Alam has accused the government of retaining key elements of the state structures that enabled enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings under the previous Awami League government.

Mahfuj, one of the founders and organisers of the political platform Alternatives, said the group had demanded that new legal frameworks concerning the Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Enforced Disappearances and the Special Response Battalion (SRB) ensure human rights protections, impartial investigations, accountability, justice and compensation for victims, and the rule of law. Mahfuj currently leads Alternatives’ national organising committee. 

But he said the government was “clearly moving in the opposite direction” in all three areas.

“Merely changing names or provisions while retaining most elements of the structure that enabled enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings during the Awami League’s fascist rule amounts to nothing more than eyewash,” Mahfuj said in a statement posted by Alternatives.

He argued that the new laws would not ensure impartial investigations, accountability or effective avenues for victims to secure justice and compensation.

“Nor will they ensure the rule of law,” he said.

Mahfuj also questioned the government’s stated commitment to reform, saying its claims of goodwill and its leaders’ experience of repression under the previous government were inconsistent with preserving elements of that system in law.

“A state does not function on the goodwill of an individual or a group,” he said. “When you preserve remnants of fascism in the law, the system itself will turn individuals or groups into fascists.”

Mahfuj served as information and broadcasting adviser in the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government before resigning in December 2025. 

He launched Alternatives earlier this year as a political platform seeking to organise young people and develop new political leadership following the 2024 uprising.

--