Special Correspondent
A meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Bangladesh Awami League was held virtually on friday 18 September. The meeting was chaired by Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim. Bangladesh Awami League President, Bangabandhu’s daughter and People’s Leader Sheikh Hasina delivered the keynote guidance-oriented address as the chief guest.
A party organizing secretary confirmed that leaders joined the meeting virtually.
Several members of the Awami League central committee and secretariat joined remotely from India and other countries. A number of figures, who are not currently members of the central committee but could take on senior leadership roles in the future, also attended the meeting in Delhi.
Sheikh Hasina said that she had held consultations, in phases, with leaders and activists of the Awami League’s 83 district branches and 160 electoral constituencies in order to learn about the actual situation of the country and its people through grassroots leaders and activists, and to monitor the organizational condition of the party.
Referring to her experience from these consultations, she said that every sector of the country was on the verge of destruction and that the situation was continuously deteriorating. Therefore, the country must be protected from this situation.
Instructing the leaders responsible for organisational affairs, she said that wherever there is an organisational vacuum, priority should be given to those who have suffered various forms of persecution when selecting leadership. She said that the strength of the Awami League lies with the people and grassroots leaders and activists, and that the party places its trust in them; the Awami League does not rely on any other force.
She said that information should be collected on those who have faced persecution and repression over the past nearly two years, regardless of political affiliation, and publicised to raise awareness among the people. At the same time, the identities and actions of those responsible for persecution and repression must also be exposed.
Sheikh Hasina further said that many innocent military and civilian officials had been arrested in false cases, and she demanded their release.
Sheikh Hasina said that in July-August 2024, members of the law enforcement agencies made every possible effort to ensure the safety of lives and property. As a result, many police officers were killed, their bodies were burned, and police stations were looted and set on fire. She expressed her determination to ensure justice in all the killings through judicial investigations.
Based on information received from across the country, she said that the country was now plunged into darkness, with indiscriminate killings, rape, looting, extortion, the filing of cases and other forms of wrongdoing taking place. She alleged that the government was turning a blind eye to these activities and allowing its leaders and activists to commit wrongdoing.
She said that although the government could not provide food for the people, it was able to produce bodies.
To save the country from this situation, she reiterated her intention to return to the country. In this regard, she expressed her surprise, saying, “I am eager to return to the country, yet the government is creating obstacles.”
Addressing party leaders and activists, the Awami League president said that no matter how much they were persecuted or how many death sentences were handed down against them, they must remain beside the people. They must build resistance together with the people.
The meeting was moderated by Awami League Liberation War Affairs Secretary Advocate Mrinal Kanti Das. General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Presidium Members Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya Bir Bikram and valiant freedom fighter Advocate Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Joint General Secretary Agriculturist A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim, Organising Secretaries S.M. Kamal Hossain and Sujit Roy Nandi, Member Professor Mohammad Ali Arafat, Deputy Secretary Raymond Areng and others spoke at the meeting, reviewing the overall situation in the country.
Other leaders of the Central Executive Committee also participated in the meeting.
In their statements, Awami League leaders demanded the cancellation of what they described as the illegal death sentences handed down by the so-called ICT Tribunal against Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina and other Awami League leaders, as well as the abolition of the illegal tribunal.
The meeting expressed deep concern and outrage over the prevailing socio-economic and political situation in the country, the transition to a democratic state system, the deterioration of the supply and security situation concerning oil, gas, water and electricity, the deterioration of law and order, and the economic deadlock.
The meeting also noted that, most recently, the so-called International Crimes Tribunal had handed down death sentences on what the party described as baseless and fabricated charges against Bangladesh Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and prominent party leaders including Obaidul Quader, Agriculturist A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim, valiant freedom fighter Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Professor Mohammad Ali Arafat, Bangladesh Awami Jubo League Chairman Professor Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash, General Secretary Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil, Bangladesh Chhatra League President Saddam Hossain and General Secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Enan, among others.
The meeting expressed its firm view that the so-called tribunal had no legal basis and strongly rejected such actions.
Following discussion, the meeting unanimously adopted the following demands and proposals:
- The prices of essential commodities must be reduced.
- The supply of electricity, oil, gas and fertiliser must be ensured.
- Arrangements must be made to provide employment for workers who have lost their jobs.
- Closed industries and factories must be reopened.
- All political prisoners must be released.
- All false cases must be withdrawn.
- The ban on the Bangladesh Awami League must be withdrawn.
- The so-called ICT Tribunal’s illegal death sentences against Bangabandhu’s daughter Sheikh Hasina and other Awami League leaders, as well as the illegal tribunal itself, must be abolished.
- False cases filed against innocent military and civilian officials of the Republic must be withdrawn, and the release of those who have been arrested must be ensured.
