19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024 (BIGF 2024) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

On 29 January 2025 the 19th Bangladesh IGF (BIGF 2024) convened at the University of Dhaka's MIS Department conference hall — an edition delayed by the August 2024 upheaval, held as a one-day dialogue still branded 'Dhaka-2024' under the theme 'Building Our Multistakeholder Digital Future'.
The discussions revolved around 'never again' on internet shutdowns: the telecom regulator BTRC's Director General called the internet a fundamental human right, the old Digital Security Act was pronounced 'a completely failed law', and the country's lack of CDN and DPI servers was framed as an absence of internet sovereignty.
It was a snapshot of a post-upheaval nation reckoning with its record of shutdowns and speech control — the regulator itself disavowing blackouts — and a telling case of what a national IGF can be for.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on 19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024 (BIGF 2024) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.

📍 Officially styled the '19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024' in Bengali; despite the 2024 branding it was actually held on 29 January 2025 as a one-day dialogue

Conference at a Glance (from official records)

Item	Detail
Official name	19th Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum, Dhaka-2024 (BIGF 2024)
Dates	29 January 2025
Venue	Conference hall of the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS), University of Dhaka
Theme	Building Our Multistakeholder Digital Future
Host	Organized by the Bangladesh Internet Governance Forum (BIGF); the Director General (Systems and Services) of the telecom regulator BTRC attended as chief guest, with APNIC supporting and presenting remotely

(See the source list at the end of this article.)

Discussion Digest — from the Session Records

Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.

1. 'Dhaka-2024', Held the Following January — How the Upheaval Reset the National IGF Calendar

Sessions: How the meeting came about (new executive committee elected December 2024; meeting held 29 January 2025)

Delayed past calendar 2024 by the post-August turmoil, the 19th edition kept its 'Dhaka-2024' branding but met on 29 January 2025 — leaving 2024 as a year without an annual BIGF meeting [1][3][5]
In December 2024 BIGF elected a new 2024–26 executive committee: Amber IT CEO Aminul Hakim as chairperson, flanked by vice-chairs from Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC and BRAC University's law school [1][3][5]
The restart was deliberately modest: from 2023's three-day, 400-participant forum to a one-day dialogue in a university conference hall, with APNIC continuing its support [1][3][5]

2. 'The Internet Is a Fundamental Human Right' — Shutdown Memories and the Regulator's Turn

Sessions: Chief guest address by Brig. Gen. Mohammad Khalil-ur-Rahman, Director General (Systems and Services), BTRC

"The internet must never be shut down, because it is now a fundamental human right. That is why we must expand its reasonable use (translated from Bengali-language press)"
— Brig. Gen. Mohammad Khalil-ur-Rahman (Director General, BTRC) [1][2]

"The internet is not a technology — it is our digital rights. There must be safeguards so that no government can ever shut the internet down again (translated from Bengali-language press)"
— Aminul Hakim (Chairperson, BIGF) [1][2]

In a country that saw nationwide shutdowns during the July 2024 protests, the heart of this meeting was the BTRC's own Director General declaring shutdowns off-limits [1][2]
He argued that guidelines and awareness, not laws, should secure the internet — adding that 'no one owns the internet; the internet belongs to everyone' [1][2]
He also invited ideas for using the Social Obligation Fund (SOF) to connect remote areas, signalling a reopened dialogue between regulator and civil society [1][2]

3. 'We Have No Sovereignty Over Our Internet' — Missing CDNs, DPI and the Sovereignty Question

Sessions: Policy address by Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, Policy Adviser for the ICT and Telecom Divisions

"We have no CDN servers and no deep packet inspection servers in the country. As a result, we have no sovereignty over our internet (translated from Bengali-language press)"
— Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb (Policy Adviser, ICT and Telecom Divisions) [2][4][1]

The interim government said it is working to bring Facebook (Meta) and Google servers into the country, framing the absence of big-platform infrastructure as a sovereignty problem [2][4][1]
At the same time Taiyeb pledged that, unlike the previous government, the state would not ask Meta to delete posts or hand over citizens' data except in cryptocurrency or financial-fraud cases [2][4][1]
His admission that the current legal framework 'is not sufficient' and needs updating stood out amid the post-upheaval institutional rethink [2][4][1]

4. Reckoning with the Digital Security Act — 'A Completely Failed Law'

Sessions: Panel discussion featuring Zyma Islam, senior reporter at The Daily Star, and others

"The Digital Security Act was a completely failed law. The previous government pitted people's rights against national security — and that was its biggest weapon for silencing people (translated from Bengali-language press)"
— Zyma Islam (Senior Reporter, The Daily Star) [1][2]

Criticism of the speech-chilling Digital Security Act was aired openly with the regulator in the room — a striking contrast with the 2023 edition, held in the tense weeks after the Cyber Security Act's passage [1][2]
Speakers included an ICT Division additional secretary, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, and two International Crimes Tribunal prosecutors, giving the legal-reform debate multiple angles [1][2]
Chairperson Hakim echoed the theme — protect the global village with awareness, not laws — marking a shift from legislation-first to dialogue-first [1][2]

5. The Next Chapter Toward IPv6 — APNIC Joins Remotely

Sessions: Remote presentation by Subha Shamarukh, Internet Resource Analyst, APNIC

APNIC's Subha Shamarukh presented remotely on 'RIRs and the Next Chapter of Internet Growth — from IPv4 to IPv6', bringing the address-resource perspective to the connectivity debate [3][2]
APNIC's support, following its participation in the 18th edition in 2023, shows the RIR-to-national-IGF link surviving across the political rupture [3][2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. What stood out most?

A. That it happened at all. With the annual meeting derailed by the August 2024 upheaval, the 19th edition restarted on 29 January 2025 — still branded 'Dhaka-2024' — as a one-day dialogue in a University of Dhaka conference hall.

Q. What was the core issue?

A. The memory of internet shutdowns. The telecom regulator's own Director General declared the internet a fundamental human right that must never be switched off, while the old Digital Security Act was pronounced 'a completely failed law'.

Q. Why should I care?

A. The framing of missing CDN and DPI servers as a loss of 'internet sovereignty' plugs straight into global debates on data sovereignty and platform regulation — and the meeting shows a national IGF serving as the first table where regulator and civil society sat down again after an upheaval.

What Is Bangladesh IGF? (for first-time readers)

Bangladesh IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.

Why It Matters to You

What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2024 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.