Bangladesh’s former ruling party slams government decision to ban all its activities

DHAKA Bangladesh AP Bangladesh s former ruling party accused Sunday the interim administration of stoking division and trampling on democratic norms by banning all of its programs The leadership headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted following a deadly mass uprising stated late Saturday the Awami League party can no longer be current online and elsewhere in the South Asian country under the Anti-Terrorism Act The law affairs adviser Asif Nazrul disclosed the ban would remain until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during an anti-government uprising in July and August last year He also explained the regime has empowered the Dhaka-based International Crimes Tribunal to try any political party for serious crimes The Bangladesh Nationalist Party the country s other main political party that is headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia had previously opposed the proposal to ban the Awami League party However Salahuddin Ahmed a senior BNP leader welcomed on Sunday the Awami League trial over the protesters death calling it a delayed but timely response to a long-standing demand by his party shared the English-language Daily Star newspaper The ban is expected to formally come into effect on Monday The Awami League s official account on X stated Sunday People no more feel safe under Yunus denouncing the ban that stoked division within society strangled democratic norms fueled ongoing pogrom against dissenters and strangled inclusivity all undemocratic policies under pretext of making trial of July-August violence and transformation scheme The party also condemned the thousands who took to the streets for two days including supporters of a newly formed political party by students and Islamists from various groups who later joined the protests who called for the Awami League to be banned It accused the gatherings of being state-sponsored Thousands of protesters had issued an ultimatum to the cabinet to ban the Awami League party by Saturday night Hasina in exile in India since Aug and multiple of her senior party colleagues have been accused of murdering protesters after her ouster The United Nations human rights office declared in a statement in February that up to people may have been killed during three weeks of anti-Hasina protests In the statement of the Office of the U N High Commissioner of Human Rights recommended to refrain from political party bans that would undermine a return to a genuine multi-party democracy and effectively disenfranchise a large part of the Bangladeshi electorate The student-led uprising ended Hasina s years of rule Bangladesh s politics is now at a crossroads The BNP wants an balloting in December and has demanded a clear-cut roadmap from the interim establishment which has declared the vote would be held either in December or June next year depending on the extent of reforms the leadership has taken up Source