New Delhi: The interim government of Bangladesh under Muhammad Yunus on Monday issued a gazette notification banning all activities of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party, Awami League and its affiliate organisations. The ban is imposed under the Anti-Terrorism Act until the trial of the party and its leaders in the Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) is completed.
The ban included all activities, including any kind of publication, campaign in media, online and social media, procession, meeting, gathering, conference, etc.
Sources say that Yunus is targetting the Awami League (AL) to be in the good books of Pakistan and use India’s ‘Operation Sindoor’ to fan anti-India sentiments domestically. In other words, Yunus continues to distance Bangladesh away from India.
In the sit-in demonstrations organised by Hasnat Abdullah of National Citizen Party (NCP) to put pressure on the interim government to ban the Awami League (AL) two radical Islamic leaders marked their presence — Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani of Ansarullah Bangla Team, also known as Ansar-al Islam Bangladesh or Ansar Bangla (ABT) and Mufti Harun Izhar, LeT’s Bangladesh module chief.
Jasim Uddin Rahmani, chief of the globally banned ABT and longtime Al-Qaeda ally, was seen publicly leading an anti-Awami League rally in Dhaka’s Shahbagh on May 11. His reappearance, after spending years in prison for inciting murder, has sparked national outrage and international concern. Alongside him, other radical outfits like Hizb ut-Tahrir (HuT) are openly calling for the creation of a caliphate and urging action against India. Yet, not a single word of condemnation has come from the Yunus regime.
Instead, the regime has turned its fire on the country’s largest secular force. Using the Anti-Terrorism Act, it has banned the Awami League, while globally designated terrorists now occupy centre stage.
Since the Awami League’s activities have been banned, there are no more legal complications in arresting the party’s leaders and activists. As the ban was not announced for so long, officials often struggled with arrests at the field level. Now that obstacle is no longer there. Since the government order came into effect, the police can immediately arrest Awami League leaders and activists who participate in rallies, processions or secret meetings.
After the Anti-Terrorism Act banned all activities of the Awami League, various questions have arisen. Can the law ban activities without banning the party? What will happen to the registration of the Awami League as a political party if activities are banned? If the law is amended to open the way for the Awami League to be tried as a party for crimes against humanity, what will be the interim government’s position on JeI’s alleged crimes against humanity in 1971? (IANS)
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