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Hasnat Quayum
The president of Bangladesh Rashtra Sangskar Andolan, Hasnat Quayum, has alleged that the draft Cyber Protection (Amendment) Act 2026 represents a revamped mechanism to suppress political dissent and free speech. He claimed that the BNP-led administration is walking the path of deposed authoritarian ruler Sheikh Hasina by reviving repressive legal frameworks under the guise of security and citizen protection.
Addressing a roundtable discussion titled "Proposed Cyber Law: A New Arrangement for Silencing Voices" at the party's central office on Topkhana Road in Dhaka on Saturday (October 3), Quayum stressed that the draft amendments stand in stark contrast to the expectations of reform and systemic overhaul sparked by the popular mass uprising.
"From Section 57 of the ICT Act to the Digital Security Act (DSA) and the Cyber Security Act (CSA), security has routinely served as a pretext to crush dissenting opinions," Quayum remarked. "Without clear, unambiguous definitions of offenses, the risk of political weaponization surges. As a co-traveler of the mass uprising, the BNP must not walk in Hasina’s footsteps." He warned of a united protest movement if the administration fails to retract the regressive provisions.
At the roundtable, lyricist and activist Shahidullah Faraizee argued that rather than ensuring cyber protection for citizens, the legislation is being engineered as a "government protection act." DSA Victims Network convener Golam Mahfuz Joarder criticized the unilateral formation of a dedicated "cyber police" force without prior public consultations, arguing it further arms the state against citizens.
Journalist Masud Kamal underlined that the constitution explicitly obligates the government to safeguard the right to criticize the state, while Fahim Mashroor, convener of the Citizen Forum for Referendum Implementation, warned that pushing the public against the wall would inevitably trigger another unified mass resistance across party lines.
