“With solely the garments on our backs and empty arms, we left our homeland, feeling completely helpless. We don’t understand how we’ll survive. Maintain on, keep secure. When the time comes, we’ll journey collectively once more.”

These have been the one phrases of comfort that high Awami League leaders might muster for his or her followers and social gathering members earlier than fleeing Bangladesh after the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s authorities on August 5, amid sweeping nationwide protests.

Greater than a dozen mid-level Awami League leaders and leaders of its associates unable to flee, expresses a deep sense of abandonment and uncertainty amongst them, marking the social gathering’s most important second previously 16 years.

Grim actuality

From the highest ranks to the grassroots, leaders and activists of the Awami League now face a grim actuality of lawsuits, arrests, and assaults. Ms. Hasina alone faces over 2 hundred circumstances, many involving threats to her life, whereas outstanding figures like AL Basic Secretary Obaidul Quader are additionally listed as defendants. For numerous members, the state of affairs has pressured them into hiding, and plenty of are urgently searching for methods to flee the nation.

Leaders from the AL’s associates have additionally disappeared. Some disheartened AL and its affiliate members, talking with The Hindu, expressed their worry and concern over the state of affairs.

A Vice-President of the just lately banned Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the coed wing of the AL, who has gone into hiding, asking for anonymity, expressed deep frustration with the social gathering’s high management.

“We wouldn’t be on this state of affairs if the social gathering had valued its devoted leaders,” he stated. “As an alternative, they all the time favoured flatterers. Now, with Sheikh Hasina’s fall, they’ve left the nation, whereas we— the loyal ones — don’t even have the monetary means to flee. We all know the social gathering is dealing with onerous instances, however this accountability rests squarely with the highest management. We’re now left to dwell a life crammed with worry and uncertainty.”

On October 24, Bangladesh’s interim authorities banned the BCL, designating it a “terrorist organisation. This determination has intensified an already tense political environment, with mass arrests of BCL leaders and activists stirring unease throughout college campuses.

Shortly after banning the BCL, the Adviser for the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Youth and Sports activities, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, stated that members of banned organisations wouldn’t be allowed to be appointed in authorities positions.

BCL members are being detained whereas attending courses and exams. Legislation enforcement officers have arrested dozens of BCL members, together with feminine college students, as they arrive for exams on campuses. In some situations, protest leaders have handed over BCL members to police, who then present them as arrested in reference to numerous pending circumstances.

Nonetheless, Sarjis Alam, a high coordinator of the anti-discrimination motion, has voiced opposition to the mass arrests concentrating on BCL leaders, noting that a lot of them, whereas holding positions inside the organisation, additionally participated within the anti-discrimination motion in July.

After banning the BCL, calls for for a ban on the AL itself are intensifying. Two petitions have been just lately filed with the Excessive Courtroom searching for a suspension of the actions of the AL and 10 different political events. Nonetheless, Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam, coordinators of the Anti-Discrimination Pupil Motion, later withdrew the petitions. 

In response to this, AL Joint Secretary A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim advised The Hindu the interim authorities seems to be on a mission to get rid of the AL — an effort he stated would fail as a result of “the social gathering is embedded within the hearts of the lots”. Questioning the federal government’s latest ban on the BCL, Mr. Nasim stated: “How can they ban the BCL, the coed wing that performed a pivotal position in securing the nation’s independence?”

“Over 200 lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Sheikh Hasina, with hundreds of social gathering leaders arrested in reference to a number of thousand circumstances. Many have been pressured into hiding to evade arrest. Properties and companies — not solely of Awami League leaders and activists but in addition of abnormal residents — are being looted. But, there’s a pervasive silence, together with from the media, on these points,” Mr. Nasim added.

Over 1,000 circumstances

In keeping with Dhaka Metropolitan Police sources, 399 circumstances have been filed in numerous police stations and courts within the capital since August 5. Nationwide, a complete of 1,695 circumstances have been filed as of October 13.

Police and court docket sources stated Ms. Hasina now faces round 250 circumstances, together with practically 200 homicide circumstances, on fees of killing and tried homicide through the scholar protests. The primary case in opposition to her was filed on August 15 in a Dhaka court docket. Since then, a sequence of circumstances have been filed within the capital and throughout numerous elements of the nation.

AL Organizing Secretary Shafiul Alam Chowdhury Nadel advised The Hindu that greater than 500,000 leaders, activists, and professionals affiliated with the social gathering have been named in latest circumstances filed.

“These are fabricated circumstances. They embody not solely Awami League members and associates but in addition leaders from pro-liberation democratic events, in addition to cultural activists, journalists, and sports activities organisers. That is nothing however a marketing campaign of harassment,” Mr. Nadel stated.

In keeping with social gathering sources, grassroots leaders are staying away from their properties to keep away from being monitored by legislation enforcement. They try to stay hidden, whereas their households dwell in fixed worry, unsure about what would possibly occur subsequent. Fearing for his or her lives, a number of political figures, amongst others, sought refuge inside army cantonments. The Bangladesh Military supplied shelter to 626 people from numerous backgrounds. After leaving the cantonments, political leaders went into hiding, with some escaping inside the nation whereas others crossed the border into neighbouring India.

Mr. Nadel accused Jamaat-BNP activists of indiscriminately concentrating on leaders and staff of the AL’s scholar organisation. Arrested AL leaders and activists are being denied the precise to authorized illustration, an act he described as each unlawful and inhumane.

“Because of the unlawful takeover of energy, these people are receiving little assist from the administration and legislation enforcement. Consequently, the continued disillusionment among the many public, fuelled by the federal government’s controversial actions, has led to widespread disenchantment,” he added.

The Worldwide Crimes Tribunal on October 27 confirmed 10 former Ministers, together with Anisul Huq, Abdur Razzaque, Lt. Col. (retd) Faruk Khan, Dipu Moni, Shahjahan Khan; and as many others have been arrested on fees of crimes in opposition to humanity and genocide through the July-August mass rebellion. Earlier, the tribunal additionally issued an arrest warrant in opposition to Ms. Hasina.

There are allegations that circumstances are being filed indiscriminately, with even deceased people listed as accused. As an illustration, on September 2, a case was filed in opposition to a number of AL leaders, alleging they attacked college students throughout an August 4 protest in Beltoli beneath the Comilla district. Among the many 96 people named within the case was Kamal Uddin Mazumder, an upazila AL chief who handed away on July 11, 2023. Along with Kamal, two different deceased Awami League leaders have been additionally included within the case.

Civil society members warn that this method dangers permitting precise perpetrators to evade justice, including that many of those circumstances are unlikely to face up to scrutiny in court docket or progress past preliminary levels.

Mob violence

In the meantime, even after practically three months, mob violence continues to be happening in some locations within the nation. In keeping with Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), 49 folks have been killed in mob violence throughout the nation in August and September.

A brand new disaster has additionally emerged after protests broke out demanding the removing of President Mohammed Shahabuddin from workplace. The interim authorities’s determination on this difficulty continues to be pending resulting from an absence of ‘political consensus’. The BNP opposes this transfer, cautioning that it might create a constitutional vacuum, doubtlessly sparking a broader disaster.

The AL views the BNP’s latest positions positively however refrains from commenting on the fast reforms the interim authorities is planning. Nonetheless, the social gathering firmly rejects the Anti-Discrimination Pupil Motion’s demand to scrap the 1972 Structure. The AL additionally denies any chance of forming an alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, regardless of hypothesis that Jamaat would possibly search frequent floor with the AL to counter the BNP within the subsequent elections. Get together leaders expressed willingness to take part in elections however pressured that stability is important to make sure credibility, one thing they doubt the Yunus-led interim authorities can obtain.

“It’s not possible to type any alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami resulting from our sturdy ideological variations,” stated AL chief Mr. Nasim. “Nonetheless, we admire the BNP’s stance on not banning political events and on retaining the President.”

The AL reiterated its assist for democratic elections in a impartial, steady setting beneath the management of Sheikh Hasina. “Speedy reforms could also be crucial in some circumstances, however we is not going to tolerate the scrapping of the 1972 Structure which Anti-Discrimination Pupil Motion leaders have demanded,” Mr. Nasim added.

Requested if the AL is ready to make sure Ms. Hasina’s security upon her return to the nation Mr. Nadel stated: “We’re sustaining communication with our activists and democratic allies. Quickly, we’ll launch a political programme and take our motion to the streets. Our chief, Sheikh Hasina, shall be returning quickly.”