Interim govt can't decide on port and LDC matters: Tarique Rahman

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) acting chairman Tarique Rahman believes that an unelected interim government does not have the authority to take decisions on matters such as ports or the country’s graduation from the LDC category.

Tarique Rahman said, “A government that has not been elected by the people of a country cannot determine the country’s long-term future.”

Amid discussions and criticism over handing over the construction and operation of the Laldia Container Terminal at Chattogram port, and the operation of the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal in Dhaka, to foreign companies, the BNP acting chairman made this reaction in a Facebook post yesterday, Monday.

Alongside the agreements on the two terminals, the interim government has also decided that Bangladesh will graduate from the list of least developed countries (LDCs) in 2026.

Tarique Rahman says these decisions will have long-term implications for the people of the country. Yet such a government is taking decisions on strategic matters even though it does not have a democratic mandate.

He responded to both issues in a long post written in English on his verified Facebook page. A translated version of the full post is presented below for readers—

Picture a small garment factory owner in Gazipur. He has spent more than a decade building his business, employing over a hundred workers, managing tight margins, and competing in an unforgiving global market. One day, without any visible ceremony, the tariff advantages that once kept his prices competitive quietly disappear. It leads to his orders slowing down and the pressure rises to keep his factory open, his employees paid, and his family safe.

Now picture a young graduate in Narayanganj, watching her family sink into uncertainty. Her father works in a factory. He depends on overtime to make ends meet. When export pressure builds, overtime disappears first. Then shifts are cut. Then jobs. These are not headlines. These are silent crises inside ordinary homes.

They never voted on that decision. They were never asked. They were never shown the real numbers.

That is why the debate around Bangladesh’s LDC graduation matters so much more than official statements make it seem.

The BNP has stated this before: that moving ahead with the 2026 graduation timeline without keeping the option of deferral alive is purely a political decision, being taken by an interim government that does not carry an electoral mandate. And yet, is making long-term commitments that will shape the country’s economic future for decades.

We are told that delay is ‘impossible', that even asking for it to be deferred would be a ‘humiliation’ which the United Nations (UN) would not even consider.

But if we all look closer, history tells a more complex story.

Countries such as Angola and Samoa have had their graduation timelines adjusted. The UN rules themselves allow flexibility when countries face economic shocks. Asking for time on country-shaping consequences is just responsible governance by an interim government.

But why are we pretending that there is no choice? Why are we limiting our future?

By publicly removing the option of deferral, we weaken our own negotiating power. We enter international discussions with our hands already exposed, giving away leverage before we even sit at the table.

Even the government’s own documents acknowledge the business community in Bangladesh already feeling the pressure on the banking sector, stress on foreign exchange, rising debt risk, slowing exports.

This is not an argument against graduation. Bangladesh has earned the right to move forward. But having the ‘right’ to graduate is not the same as being ‘ready’ to graduate.

I consider real national strength not as the absence of doubt in decision making. Real national strength is to have the discipline to ask hard questions before the cost becomes irreversible.

Now look at Chattogram Port, the gateway to Bangladesh’s economy. What happens there shapes the lives of millions more than any political speech ever will.

Recent long-term decisions about the port are not routine. They are strategic commitments over a national asset, pushed forward by an interim government without a democratic mandate to bind future generations.

What we see at Chattogram Port mirrors what we see with LDC graduation. Strategic options are closed. Public debate is treated as inconvenience. Legitimate concerns are brushed aside in the name of speed and ‘inevitability.’

Let me be very clear: this is not about personalities or attacking individuals. It is about protecting institutions and the principle that decisions which shape decades of national life should be made by governments that are accountable to the people.

No one is saying we should not graduate from LDC status or reform our ports. The argument is simpler, and more fundamental: the future of a nation should not be locked in by a government that the nation did not elect.

Strategic patience is not weakness. Public consultation is not obstruction. Democratic legitimacy is not delay. And in my opinion, perhaps this is the most important truth beneath all of this.

The people of Bangladesh have never been passive about their future. They have endured hardship and sacrifice because they believe in dignity, voice, and choice.

Their ask is simple: to be heard, to participate, to be respected.

That is why so many of us look ahead to the national elections scheduled for February 2026, a chance for the people of Bangladesh to speak, to choose, and to reaffirm a simple truth:

The future of this country must be shaped by those who live in it, believing in ‘Shobar agey Bangladesh.’