Energy-Rich, Leader-Poor: The Tragedy of Bangladesh's Fuel Crisis

News:

"The country that could be the first to run out of fuel due to US-Iran war" — the newly elected Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government led by Tarique Rahman is scrambling to formulate a response, as Bangladesh grapples with rising energy costs, mounting pressure on foreign exchange reserves, and the prospect of being the first country to run out of fuel supplies amid the energy crisis.......

Bangladesh has sought a temporary US sanctions waiver to import up to 600,000 metric tonnes of Russian diesel. The country's diesel reserve declined to 1,15,473 tonnes—enough for around nine days—and octane to 28,152 tonnes, sufficient for nearly two weeks. The BPC will import 40,000 tonnes of diesel from India's Numaligarh Refinery in April, nearly double March's volume. Bangladesh is also seeking more than $2.5bn in external financing for fuel and LNG imports. (The Independent, 1 April 2026).

Comment:

The current fuel crisis, triggered by the Iran war, has pushed Bangladesh to the brink of a national shutdown — universities closing, fuel rationing, and an official warning that the country could “grind to a halt within weeks.” Yet the real tragedy is not a lack of energy resources. It is a chronic, self-inflicted failure of the political leadership.

Since birth, Bangladesh’s secular ruling elite — whether Awami League or BNP — has never genuinely aspired for energy independence. They have systematically starved the state-owned BAPEX of modern technology and resources, leaving our vast onshore and shallow offshore blocks underexplored. No short, mid, or long-term policy for energy security has ever been adopted or implemented.

Instead of empowering BAPEX, successive governments have preferred surrendering our blocks to foreign companies and pouring billions into importing LNG — locking us into permanent dependency. Renewables, efficiency, and waste management remain afterthoughts.

The current crisis exposes this capitulation most shamefully: Bangladesh now begs Washington for a waiver just to buy Russian diesel, as if our sovereignty depends on American permission. It is a humiliating surrender that forces Bangladesh to abandon strategic autonomy and align with the US geopolitical agendas.

The so-called “independence” after Hasina’s ousting has changed nothing. We remain trapped under the same old submission, trading one form of dependence for another. Until we bring the leaders and rulers willing to put the ummah’s energy security above foreign profits and political expediency, Bangladesh will never be truly independent. And for true independence to finally arrive, people of Bangladesh must be reminded time and again that this corrupt, profit-oriented secular leadership needs to be replaced immediately by the sincere pro-people leadership of Islam under the rightly guided Khilafah (Caliphate) on the method of the Prophethood.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Irtiza Chowdhury – Wilayah Bangladesh