B’desh Parl endorses ban on ex-PM Hasina’s Awami League party

Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a law endorsing the previous Muhammad Yunus-led interim government’s order to disband deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party.

“This bill (law) concerns the banning of a genocidal, terrorist organisation. This is an amendment to the previous Anti-Terrorism Act,” Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told the Parliament, without naming the Awami League.

Ahmed said the new law would continue the suspension of the Awami League’s registration with the election commission and ensure the party’s trial for its alleged involvement in “genocide”. Treasury bench members belonging to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) passed the bill in a

voice vote as Ahmed tabled it, keeping intact the ordinance framed by the interim government while amending a previous terrorism law.

The Yunus government had first amended the original Anti-Terrorism Act, with the revised one suggesting that if any individual or organisation was found to be involved in terrorist activities, the government might disband them.

Soon after promulgating the ordinance, the interim government issued an executive order banning the Awami League. The law prohibited publication or printing of press statements by or on behalf of or in support of a banned party and any propaganda using mainstream or social media alongside activities like processions or public speeches in support of that party.