This evening, numerous Awami League ministers and Members of Parliament who fled Bangladesh after the August 5 flight of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Delhi gathered at a rooftop in a five-star hotel in Kolkata. The meeting was convened after the Mohammad Yunus-led Advisory Council unanimously decided to impose a ban on all activities of the Awami League, including its online presence, until judicial proceedings regarding alleged war crimes by party leaders are resolved.
The Awami League leaders aimed to strategize in response to this latest threat to their party’s survival in Bangladesh, posed by the Yunus-led interim authority aiming to bar the Hasina-led faction from contesting future elections. Various ideas were discussed, including a suggestion to return to Bangladesh to confront the situation directly. Consensus emerged on one point: that “all decisions of the illegal government are illegal.” Despite the strength of these words, many Awami League leaders—who took refuge in Kolkata following Hasina’s ouster and subsequent violence—seemed uncertain about the most effective approach to counter the Yunus regime.
Recently, the Awami League criticized the hastily convened International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), established after August 2024 to try Hasina and other leaders for their supposed involvement in killing demonstrators in July 2024. The ICT’s failure to consider the killings occurring between August 4 and 6 raised concerns about its impartiality.
The May 10 decision followed the proscription of the Awami League’s student wing, the Chhatra League, which the interim authority labeled a terrorist organization in October 2024. The Awami League described the Yunus-led regime as“unconstitutional and illegitimate,” asserting that the ICT was formed by “anti-liberation forces” that ignored the principles of the rule of law and engaged in an “egregiously farcical and illegal judicial process.”
As both sides exchanged accusations, analysts such as Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah noted that the interim authority’s actions, specifically this “conditional ban,” appeared to be a tactic to postpone elections that parties like the BNP have been demanding. Whatever the Yunus regime’s intentions might be, previous actions suggest they are more focused on delaying a truly free and fair parliamentary election.
Furthermore, the ban signals a dismissal of Indian demands for “inclusive elections,” highlighted in a statement after Modi’s surprise meeting with Yunus during the fourth BIMSTEC Summit in Thailand on April 4. A senior Awami League leader now residing in Kolkata suggested that the Yunus regime, likely under foreign influence, might use the extensive powers of the May 10 order against the BNP as well.
Following recent amendments to the law, the ICT has been granted sweeping powers to sanction any political party or their supporters. Awami League leaders, currently in Kolkata and other Indian locations, face a critical decision: stay in the safety of their temporary havens or risk everything and return to Bangladesh to challenge the Yunus regime along with various Islamist groups and student factions contending for control in a fragmented state.
Original Source: https://nenews.in/neighbours/a-kolkata-hotel-rooftop-gathering-of-awami-league-leaders-agitation-in-bangladesh-must-continue/25104/
Category: Neighbours,Awami League,Kolkata,leaders,meeting,Members,Mohammad Yunus,Sheikh Hasina
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Publish Date: 2025-05-11 20:36:00
