Bangladesh could ban Awami League

The interim government in Bangladesh has banned the student wing of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League, a possible precursor to banning the country's oldest political party from contesting elections in future, said people familiar with the matter.

The decision to ban Awami League's student organisation, Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), smacked of vendetta politics, they said, alluding to the influence of rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party on the interim government.

Bangladesh's home affairs ministry on Wednesday issued a gazette notification regarding the ban on BCL amid the demand raised by the Student Movement Against Discrimination. BCL is a 76-year-old organisation, one of the oldest in South Asia, that played a stellar role in the country's independence movement.


The notification said that over the past 15 years, under the Awami League government, BCL had been involved in various activities that disrupted public safety, including murder, rape, torture, harassment in student dormitories and tender manipulation.

It said there was sufficient evidence indicating that BCL continued to engage in conspiratorial, destructive and provocative activities against the state. The regime declared a ban on BCL under section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, with immediate effect, said the notification.

Awami League's Bahauddin Nasim said the ban on BCL was an attack on the spirit of the "liberation war" and the constitution. Bangladesh watchers claimed that a close watch must be kept on the country's military amid deteriorating law and order situation. The situation may force a drastic move by the military establishment of the country, they said.