Twelve members of the former interim government on Tuesday strongly condemned the heckling of former Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus by activists of the banned Awami League at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.

“We express our unreserved outrage and strongest possible condemnation of the persistent harassment, online smear campaigns and targeted attacks directed at former Chief Adviser and Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus,” they said in a joint statement sent to the media.

The signatories are Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, Dr M Fouzul Kabir Khan, CR Abrar, Dr Asif Nazrul, Adilur Rahman Khan, Lt Gen Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (retd), Brig Gen Dr Sakhawat Hussain (retd), Faruk E Azam BP, Farida Akhter, Sharmeen Murshid, Mostafa Sarwar Farooki and Syeda Rizwana Hasan.

“When our nation stood on the precipice of total collapse, the interim government led by Professor Yunus did its best to address the Herculean task of rebuilding a nation shattered by years of unrestrained economic plunder, the collapse of democratic institutions, corruption, systemic tyranny and gross human rights violations,” the statement said.

It added that the interim government had ended practices such as enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, which the signatories said had been regularly committed under the previous regime.

Expressing regret over what they described as continued attempts by political miscreants and vested quarters to spread misinformation and physically threaten Yunus, the signatories condemned what they called cowardly tactics aimed at creating instability and undermining the credibility and broad public acceptance of the interim government.

“We state unequivocally: no amount of intimidation, falsehoods, online harassment or personal threats will ever break our resolve for the changes promised by July,” the statement said.

“The historic mandate for reform and dignity secured by the people of Bangladesh through the enormous sacrifices of the youth cannot and will not be erased by malicious propaganda or attempts by the ousted regime and its supporters,” it added.