Bangladesh bans student wing of ousted Sheikh Hasina’s party

By Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh’s interim government has officially banned the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party, declaring it a “terrorist organization”.

This measure comes in response to the growing demands of the Student Anti-Discrimination Movement, which has outlined five main demands, including the abolition of the current constitution, the dismissal of President Mohammed Shahabuddin and the dissolution of the BCL.

The Ministry of Home Affairs cited BCL’s history of serious misconduct over the past 15 years, including violence, harassment and exploitation of public resources. The ban under the Anti-Terrorism Law takes effect immediately, it said in a statement.

gazette notification issued on Wednesday evening.

The country has seen rising tensions and protests in recent months, after violent protests forced Hasina to flee to India on August 5 and an interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus took power.

The protests, which began as a student-led movement against public sector employment quotas in July, have turned into some of the deadliest riots since the country’s independence in 1971, resulting in more than 700 deaths and numerous injuries.

During the riots, BCL leaders and activists attacked protesting students and the general public with weapons, killing hundreds of innocent people and putting the lives of many more people at risk, the statement added.

There was no comment from the party, while many senior Awami League leaders were arrested on charges that they took part in the riots or went into hiding.

Founded in 1948, the BCL has historically been a significant faction within the Awami League.

Previously, Hasina’s government had banned the country’s main Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and its affiliated groups under the anti-terrorism law, blaming it for fueling deadly violence during student-led protests and involvement in alleged terrorist activities linked to his actions against the country during the 1971 war of independence.

However, the interim government lifted this ban after the fall of Hasina’s government.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Michael Perry)