Bangladesh's interim govt bans exiled PM Sheikh Hasina's Awami League

Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus on Saturday evening banned deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League under an anti-terrorism law.

“The official gazette notification will be issued in this regard on the next working day,” Yunus’ office said, describing it as a “statement of the council of advisers” or the Cabinet, news agency PTI reported.

What Yunus' office said

The statement said the council decided that the ban would remain effective until the completion of the “trial of the Awami League and its leaders in Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal in the interest of protecting the country’s security and sovereignty”.

It said the decision was also taken for the security of the leaders and activists of the July 2024 uprising that eventually led to the ousting of the Awami League regime alongside the complainants and witnesses of the trial in the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), the PTI report said.

The meeting chaired by Yunus simultaneously amended the ICT law allowing the tribunal to try any political party, its front organisations and affiliated bodies.

Protests intensify outside Yunus’s residence

The move came after members of the National Citizen Party (NCP), formed by students who spearheaded the protests that ousted Hasina last year, staged an overnight demonstration outside Yunus’s official residence ‘Jamuna.’ The activists set up a makeshift stage and offered Friday prayers at the protest site.

“Our movement has started. This campaign may continue for one day or even a month. We will have to remain on the street until the announcement of banning Awami League is made,” NCP leader Sarjis Alam told the rally.

Support from Islamist groups

Leaders from Jamaat-e-Islam, Islami Chhatra Shibir, and Hefazat-e-Islam also joined the NCP rally on Friday, bolstering the protest’s size and intensity.

The government urged protesters to maintain calm while deliberations continue and confirmed that it had already disbanded the Awami League’s student wing, stating, “The government has disbanded what it called ‘terrorist Chhatra League'."

Later, NCP protesters enforced a blockade at Dhaka’s Shahbagh Square, chanting slogans against the Awami League. “Until the government notification is issued on the ban, we will not return to our home. We will dig Awami League’s grave at Shahbagh,” Alam declared, as media reports indicated that similar blockades had spread across various parts of the country.

(With inputs from agencies)