Michael Rubin Urges Trump and Rubio to Designate Jamaat as a Terrorist Organization

International Desk

Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, an influential Republican Party think tank, and director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum, recently warned President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that they should not repeat the Biden administration’s policy on Bangladesh.

Rubin’s analysis says that the political and social situation in Bangladesh is heading towards a serious crisis, which could pose a major threat to regional stability.

In an article written for Firstpost, Rubin said that Bangladesh’s elected Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted more than a year ago by student movements and protests. Sheikh Hasina’s critics accuse her and her family of using government institutions to flaunt their glory and power, interfering in elections, and taking advantage of irregularities and corruption in government projects.

Although, Michael Rubin himself was an observer in the 2008 elections and had a positive attitude towards the transparency and fairness of the elections at that time, the elections were accepted.

After the removal of Sheikh Hasina, student protests, which originally began demanding the abolition of the freedom fighter quota, turned violent.

According to Rubin, the protests were instigated by Pakistan’s ISI, possibly with funding from Qatar and Turkey. The Biden administration celebrated the change as a democratic advance. In his meeting with Dr. Yunus at the United Nations, Biden praised the student movement in Bangladesh and pledged US support for implementing a “new reform agenda.”

According to Rubin, Dr. Yunus’s “reforms” are in fact authoritarian and vindictive. He has falsely accused political opponents, journalists, civil society leaders, and former secular leaders, and has targeted Bangladesh’s Hindu and Christian communities. Yunus is using his Nobel Peace Prize, which he won nearly two decades ago, in a way that Tawakkol Karman of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood used to advance his personal and political agenda.

He noted that if Trump continues the same wrong policy regarding Bangladesh, it will create long-term consequences for regional security similar to Jimmy Carter’s Iran policy mistakes.

According to Rubin, Trump and Rubio should reverse the failed policies of Biden and then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They should acknowledge the facts as they are and impose sanctions on Yunus for his role and the persecution of journalists, former lawmakers, and civil society leaders. The United States should place Bangladesh on a religious freedom watch list, declare Jamaat-e-Islami a terrorist organization, and recognize Sheikh Hasina as the de facto leader until fair elections are held.

Rubin warned that otherwise, in the long term, religious freedom and democracy would be harmed and regional stability would be endangered.