DHAKA: Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina‘s Awami League would not be allowed to participate in elections, a key adviser of Muhammad Yunus’ interim govt said on Saturday.
“The elections will be contested among pro-Bangladesh groups only,” said Mahfuz Alam, a top leader of the Anti-Discrimination Movement, which spearheaded the mass uprising that toppled Hasina’s Awami League regime and forced her to flee the country on Aug 5 last year.
Addressing a street rally at central Chandpur district, Alam said only former prime minister Khaleda Zia‘s Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Jamaat-e-Islam and other “pro-Bangladesh” groups would carry on their politics in the country. He added that either of these “will establish future governance through a fair electoral process”.
“But Awami League’s rehabilitation will not be allowed in this country,” said Alam, a de facto minister without portfolio. Alam said no election would take place until “minimum reforms” were implemented and institutions, allegedly destroyed by the “fascist Hasina govt,” were restructured.