Muktdesh Desk: The leadership of the Awami League in Bangladesh will not depend on the family. After the party was banned from participating in the elections, millions of supporters will boycott the next national elections. The party leader and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said these things in an interview with the news agency Reuters.
Meanwhile, in a separate interview with the London-based Independent, she refused to apologize for the deaths of those killed during student-led protests last year. She mentioned that she would not return to the country under any government that would be formed excluding her party. She would stay in India. This is the first time she has given an interview to a foreign media outlet since fleeing to India on August 5 last year. After she fled, the interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammad Yunus is leading Bangladesh. They have been ruling Bangladesh since Hasina’s removal. The interim government has promised to hold elections next February.
Sheikh Hasina said that banning the Awami League is not only unfair, but also self-defeating. She said, the next government must have electoral significance. Crores of people are supporters of the Awami League. So in this situation, they will not go to the polls. For an effective political system, crores of people cannot be deprived of the elections.
Reuters wrote, the number of registered voters in Bangladesh has exceeded 125 million. Politically, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have long been the two main parties. BNP is seen as the winner in the next election. Recently, the Election Commission suspended the registration of the Awami League in May. Before that, all the activities of the party were banned under the Yunus government for national security and war crimes investigations.
Sheikh Hasina also said, we are not asking our supporters to support any other party. We still hope that common sense will return to the path of victory and our party will be able to participate in the elections itself.
Reuters wrote – She did not say whether she, herself or through her representative, was secretly discussing with the Bangladeshi authorities so that the Awami League could participate in the elections. Spokespersons for the Yunus government did not comment on this issue. A United Nations report said at least 1,400 people were killed between July 15 and August 5, 2024, in the worst violence since independence. Hasina has denied the allegations, saying she herself did not participate in the use of lethal force or other alleged crimes. She said she had no plans to return to the country.
She said the party would play a role in the future – whether in government or opposition – and that the party’s leadership would not be dependent on her family. “It is not about me or my family,” she said. “The future we all want for Bangladesh requires the return of constitutional rule and political stability. No one person or family determines the future of our country.” “Of course I want to go home, but only if the government is legitimate, the constitution is upheld, and law and order is truly maintained,” she said.
Separately, she refused to apologize to Britain’s The Independent for those killed in the mass protests. The Independent made headlines for her remarks. Hasina said she would not apologise for the deadly crackdown by security forces on street protests last year.
Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the country with an “iron fist” for more than 15 years and is currently in exile in India, wrote the Independent. When asked in an interview whether she would apologise to the families of the protesters who were killed, Hasina said: “I mourn the death of every one of our children, brothers, sisters and friends whom we have lost as a nation. I will continue to express my condolences to them.” However, Hasina strongly denies that she ever ordered the police to open fire. Instead, she claims that her party, the Awami League, is being deliberately deprived of the opportunity to participate in the elections through an “unelected” interim government. Hasina defended her actions during last year’s protests, saying she does not personally take responsibility for any of the killings. Instead, she called the incident “a violent uprising”. He claimed that most of the casualties were due to “a breakdown of discipline” among security forces on the ground, and said that as a leader, he fully accepts responsibility. But the allegation that he ordered the shooting is completely false. He said his government had initially set up an independent commission to investigate the killings, which was later closed by the interim government after it took power.
Bangladesh’s crackdown on protests last year shocked the world. Baburam Pant, deputy regional director for Amnesty International, said at the time that the rising death toll in the crackdown was a “blatant example of the Bangladesh government’s total intolerance of protest and dissent.” The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the attacks on student protesters were “deeply condemnable and unacceptable.” But Hasina also questioned the death toll reported during the student movement. He said the figure of 1,400 killed was likely exaggerated. Hasina said the government’s move was a “well-intentioned measure to reduce the loss of life, as the movement was spreading rapidly.”
Explaining her decision to leave the country, Hasina said, “I was forced to leave the country on August 5. If I had stayed in the country, not only my life but also the lives of those around me would have been in danger.” Despite her departure and the banning of the Awami League, Hasina said she was determined to bring democracy to Bangladesh.
