• Top leaders including ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina accused of genocide.
• As party AL is going to be trial
• The last two decades’ party politics was out of people’s sentiments but all about power
• Being accused of murdering students, general people and passersby AL haters raised
• All Leaders and activists escaped being accused of murder, corruption and robbery.
• Last fifteen years of politics there have been no alternative top leaders but Sheikh Hasina
Although Awami League is not politically banned but faces deep trouble to get into politics. On 5th August Sheikh Hasina fled and other leaders hid themselves. Most of them were escaped. The majority of AL leaders are arrested on several charges like corruption, money laundering and murder.
fled Bangladesh due to killing students and also few of them hid themselves. Bangladesh Bank kept their bank accounts frozen. More or less Awami league members have controversies, said Awami supporters. Sheikh Hasina led her party for 20 long years in different times. (1996-2001 and 2009-2024). The 73-year-old party re-elected Sheikh Hasina as its top leader for the tenth time in its 22nd tri-annual council on 24th December 2022. and she has been leading the biggest party in Bangladesh for 45 years. Without any opposition on how successful Awami League was, question arose from public. After the formalities of re-electing the party president and general secretary, the council entrusted the president and General secretary to elect the remaining members of the committee. Repeating this culture over a long period has left the team in a fragile state.
Ali Riaz, Distinguished Professor of Politics and Government Department of Illinois State University, USA, said that the current constitution of the country has given this power to Sheikh Hasina. No differences left between awami league and government since 15 years due to single power of party head. In the end, they have become a dictatorial party.
A senior leader from Awami League said that Awami League lost their community because many of them ran away, Organizational activities collapsed, no one was there sitting together and most of the offices were burned. After the collapse of the police, they could not be active in the street except in Gopalganj. However, the previous experience gave him hope for the further unity of the party. After the death of Bangabandhu in 1975, no one could mention his name or the Awami League for many years. So many Leaders have been died and imprisoned but in the end, they turned back to a positive outcome.
Another presidium leader said, even though Sheikh Hasina also prisoned twice but she did not give up. Hasina punished Jamayat and the consequences came into as revenge.
We survived after 1975 and we will survive, said Sajib Wazed Joy to BBC South Asia Editor Ethirajan Anbarasan. He also said AL is an ideological party and the only democratic party in the country which was formed democratically before independence.
He added this is the third shock for our family. He refused to come back and take over the party leadership. He remains BNP-Jamayat will win the next election and Awami League may not be allowed to participate. As his thought the future of Bangladesh will be tragic.
Legal experts think if the trial comes to prove at the international crimes tribunal for genocide Sheikh Hasina may be hanged. Barrister Sara Hossain said the cases may be dismissed in the first stage for its legal merit. Whose responsibility is it? Why has the legal advisor of the interim government not created a committee which can give proper advice on these cases? I said this two weeks ago when the case against Sheikh Hasina started.
Meanwhile, on behalf of SARDA society, a writ was filed on August 19 to ban Awami League. After hearing the writ on August 27 the next date was fixed on September 1. The court said the writ was not admissible and dismissed outright.
