Rajshahi divisional commissioner stand-released after breaking protocol during PM's visit

Rajshahi Divisional Commissioner Yusuf Ali left Rajshahi last evening as he was stand-released earlier that same evening and told to return to Dhaka at the earliest.

According to sources in public administration, he was instructed to leave Rajshahi around 7:30pm and departed for Dhaka around 11:00pm.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, a notification was issued attaching him to the public administration ministry.

The official notification did not mention the reason for this immediate transfer of the divisional commissioner who had joined only two months ago. However, sources in the cabinet division and public administration told The Daily Star that he was withdrawn following “unprofessional behaviour” while greeting the prime minister yesterday.

The transfer came apparently after the divisional commissioner, equivalent to an additional secretary, broke ranks where officials had lined up to see off the premier at Shah Makhdum Airport as he was leaving Rajshahi. A video of the event that has since gone viral shows the divisional commissioner went a step or two forward raising his left hand as if to reach for the PM’s back and pat him. But the PM stepped away gesturing that the commissioner stay back. Other officials of the prime minister's detail are seen to hasten towards Yousuf who had broken protocol in the short clip that is making the rounds.

The prime minister arrived at Shah Makhdum Airport around 2:55pm yesterday and addressed a public rally at Madrasa Maidan. After the rally, he visited a Durga Puja mandap in Rajshahi. He later returned to the airport to leave the city, and his flight took off around 6:55pm.

Yusuf Ali was appointed divisional commissioner of Rajshahi on August 19, 2026. Before that, he served as member-director (additional secretary) of the Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC).