Interim government in Bangladesh against banning any political party: AG tells court

Dhaka, Aug 27 (PTI) The interim government in Bangladesh on Tuesday said it has no plans to ban any political organisations, including the Awami League headed by deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

This was stated by Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman when he urged the High Court to summarily reject the writ petition that sought its order on the government to ban Awami League as a political party and cancel its registration.

The current government has no intention to ban any political organisation, Asaduzzaman told a High Court bench during a hearing on the writ petition, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

He said the interim government led by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus believes in the freedom of organisation and political parties that is enshrined in the Constitution.

The attorney general said those who, being involved in the previous authoritarian government, committed misdeeds, can be tried through the courts of law but it is not appropriate to ban any political party for their personal activities.

After the hearing, the bench fixed September 1 for passing an order on the matter, the report said.

Arifur Rahman Murad Bhuiyan, executive director of rights organisation Sarda Society, submitted the petition as a public interest litigation on August 19 seeking a High Court order to ban Awami League as a political party and cancel its registration for indiscriminate killing of students and people during the anti-government movement in July and early August.

In the petition, he sought the High Court's order to make the tenure of the current interim government three years and to change the names of the institutions which are in the name of Hasina, former prime minister and Awami League president.

More than 230 people were killed in the incidents of violence that erupted across the country following the fall of the Hasina-led Awami League government on August 5, taking the death toll to more than 600 since the massive protest by students first started in mid-July.

The writ petition to ban the former ruling party comes amid individuals filing a spate of murder charges against 76-year-old Hasina, who resigned and fled to India on August 5 following a massive protest by students against a controversial quota system in government jobs.

Hasina served as the prime minister of Bangladesh from June 1996 to July 2001 and again from January 2009 to August 2024.

The Awami League, founded in 1949, is one of the oldest political parties in Bangladesh. It played a large role in achieving independence both before and after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.

It is also one of the two most dominant parties in the country, along with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former prime minister Khalida Zia. PTI AKJ AKJ