Shahabuddin said he plans to step down after the February parliamentary election, calling the past few months a time when he was ignored and treated with disrespect.
Published: December 12, 2025 7:14 AM IST
Bangladesh’s President Mohammed Shahabuddin has said he wants to step down before his term ends, soon after the country’s parliamentary election in February. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, he said he feels “humiliated” and pushed aside by the interim government now being run by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus.
Shahabuddin, 75, is officially the commander-in-chief of the military, but the president’s post is mostly symbolic in the country of 173 million people. Real power stays with the prime minister and the cabinet. His position became more important last year when a student-led uprising forced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to New Delhi in August 2024. With parliament dissolved at that time, Shahabuddin was the only person still holding a constitutional role.
He was elected without opposition in 2023 for a five-year term as the candidate of Hasina’s Awami League. That party has now been banned from taking part in the upcoming 12 February election.
What did Bangladesh’s President say about Yunus?
Speaking to Reuters over WhatsApp from his official home in Dhaka, President Shahabuddin said he no longer wants to stay in office. “I want to leave. I am ready to go,” he said, explaining that he would continue only until the February election because the constitution requires him to do so.
He said the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has pushed him aside. According to the president, Yunus has not met him for almost seven months. He also said his press wing was taken away and that portraits of the president were removed overnight from Bangladesh’s embassies and missions around the world.
“There used to be photos of the president in every embassy and consulate. Suddenly, in one night, they all disappeared,” he said. “It sends the wrong signal to people, as if the president is being erased. I felt deeply insulted.”
Shahabuddin said he wrote to Yunus asking why his portraits were removed, but never received a reply. “My voice has been silenced,” he said. Reuters reported that Yunus’ media team did not respond to requests for comment.
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