Bangladesh’s interim government bans the removal of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League

Dhaka/New Delhi: Bangladesh’s interim government was banned by Muhammad Yunus on Saturday night from the Awami League of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina under the Counter-Terrorism Law. Student-led New National Civic Party (NCP) activists have gathered since Thursday to announce Ban Hasina’s AWAMI coalition, which was rallying after a lockdown called for a ban by Dhaka. “An official communiqué notice will be issued on the next working day,” Yunus’s office said.
The statement said the Council decided that the ban would remain in effect until “the trial of the International Crime Tribunal of Bangladesh and its trial at the International Crime Tribunal of Bangladesh in order to protect the security and sovereignty of the country”.
It said the decision was also for the safety of leaders and activists of the July 2024 uprising, ultimately leading to complainants and applicants and witnesses of the trial in the International Court of Crime (ICT).

The meeting chaired by Yunus also revised the ICT law, allowing the court to try any political party, its front organizations and affiliates.

Hasina’s 16-year AWAMI coalition regime broke out on August 5 last year, prompting the 77-year-old former prime minister to flee to India. Three days after the removal, Yunus served as chief adviser to the interim government. Since then, Hasina and many of her party leaders have been facing 100 cases, including mass murder and corruption. Most party leaders and ministers in her government were arrested or fled abroad.

Most students oppose discrimination (SAD), which led to last year’s campaign that removed Hasina, which became the National Civic Party (NCP) earlier this year.

Founded in 1949, Awami League led the decades of Bangladesh autonomy in the then East Pakistani Autonomy, and finally led the Liberation War in 1971.

Bangladesh announced on Saturday that the announcement of the Ban Awami Alliance was an escalating tension in Bangladesh as NCP supporters marched to Yunus’ official residence to increase pressure on the ban.

Media reports show that NCP militants joined several Islamist and right-wing groups while sitting in the Shahgabh area near the capital.

Yunus’s office said in a statement Friday that the government has established links with different political parties in its decision to ban the Awami League.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is a major competitor to Awami League, distanced itself from demands that they oppose bans of any political party.