The interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus has created a post at Bangladesh’s UK mission for Omar bin Hadi, brother of slain anti-India leader Sharif Osman Hadi. The move comes weeks after Hadi’s murder, which was weaponised by Islamist groups to stoke anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh.
The Muhammad Yunus-led interim administration has quietly created a new diplomatic post at Bangladesh’s mission in the United Kingdom to accommodate the brother of slain anti-India leader Sharif Osman Hadi. The killing of Hadi in December 2025 was used by Islamists to fan anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh.
According to a notification issued on January 15 by the Contract and Foreign Appointment Wing of the Ministry of Public Administration, Omar bin Hadi has been appointed as Second Secretary at the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Birmingham for a three-year term. The order was signed by Joint Secretary Abul Hayat Md Rafiq and issued by order of the President.
The tenure would take effect from the date Omar bin Hadi joins the mission, reported Dhaka-based news outlet JagoNews24.
ANTI-INDIA LEADER OSMAN HADI’S MURDER WAS USED BY ISLAMISTS TO TARGET INDIA
Omar’s brother, Osman Hadi, was an India-baiter who made several anti-India statements. In 2024, he led protests against the government of PM Sheikh Hasina, which led to the ouster of the Awami League leader. The death of Hadi on December 28 was weaponised by Islamist groups in Bangladesh. It triggered street protests in Dhaka and other cities that mixed demands for justice with open India-bashing. Hadi’s supporters and Bangladeshi Islamists alleged that the killers had fled to India and directed their ire towards New Delhi.
Indian diplomatic missions and envoys were targeted as mobs attempted marches, raised inflammatory slogans, and carried out vandalism and arson. Hadi’s death was turned into a theatre of chaos and intimidation. The allegations that the suspected murderers had crossed over to India came even as the Bangladeshi police denied the claims. Weeks later, in January 2026, Bangladesh police said that Hadi was murdered due to “political vengeance” at the behest of the Awami League.
Hadi was buried beside the national poet of Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam, in Dhaka University. The decision was taken after requests from the office of Muhammad Yunus and the Jamaat Shibir-run Dhaka University students’ body. However, Hadi’s Inqilab Mancha said it was the leader’s family’s wish. But, many in Bangladesh saw the move as a means to play with history, politics, and the meaning of legacy.
Experts say the violence and protests after Hadi’s killing, before elections, were driven by Jamaat-linked Islamist groups using the murder to stir anti-India feelings.
YUNUS GOVT CREATED POST TO ACCOMMODATE OSMAN HADI’S BROTHER
What is interesting about the appointment of Hadi’s brother to a Bangladeshi foreign mission is the fact that no sanctioned post of Second Secretary currently exists at the Birmingham mission.
Sources told JagoNews24 that the position was effectively created to facilitate this posting. A diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended the move, saying that when appointments are routed through the Ministry of Public Administration, “the post is automatically created”.
Though Hadi made anti-India remarks, this isn’t to say that his brother too holds the same point of view.
Omar bin Hadi blamed the Yunus regime for his brother’s death. Just days after Hadi’s murder, he said that the Yunus regime was trying to sow chaos to delay the general election in Bangladesh slated for February. So, the move to create a post for Omar looks like optics.
In a way, the appointment of Omar reads like an overture to anti-India elements and Bangladeshi Islamists who reportedly helped push Muhammad Yunus into power.
Omar bin Hadi’s slain brother, Sharif Osman bin Hadi, was the spokesperson of a radical political outfit, Inqilab Mancha. The platform emerged as a visible face during the 2024 anti-Hasina protests. Hadi was shot in the head in Dhaka on December 12 while travelling on a rickshaw. He was initially rushed to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, later shifted to Evercare Hospital, and eventually airlifted to Singapore for advanced treatment. He succumbed to his injuries on the night of December 18.
The decision to appoint his brother to a foreign mission has naturally raised eyebrows, especially under Yunus’ interim administration, which has been accused of bias and favouritism.
