Excluding Awami League from upcoming election will not bring stability to Bangladesh, says party leader in Delhi

Excluding the Awami League, which led Bangladesh’s independence movement in 1971, from the upcoming election will not lead to stability in the country, said Hasan Mahmud, former Foreign Minister who served in the ousted government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024. Mr. Mahmud met the media at a press interaction in New Delhi, stating that the Awami League and India have historically enjoyed good relations and that India would act if any threat to its security emanated from Dhaka, which is currently under an interim government.

“Barring the party that led the war of independence of Bangladesh and ruled the country several times will mean that the upcoming election will be nothing but an arranged one, and no stability will return to Bangladesh through such a process,” said Mr. Mahmud, who also expressed doubt over whether the elections would actually be held on February 12, as promised by the Bangladesh Election Commission. He said that, although the Awami League would not be allowed to contest in the upcoming election, the party has launched a global campaign to highlight what it described as serious violations of human rights and abuses against minority communities that have taken place in Bangladesh over the past 16 months. He also indicated that the Awami League plans to hold another media outreach event in India in the coming days.

The interim government, led by Mohammed Yunus, has been accusing Sheikh Hasina and members of the Awami League of orchestrating violence in Bangladesh while staying in India. However, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a parliamentary panel last year that Ms. Hasina had not received any support from India for her political activities. But Mr. Mahmud dismissed the interim government’s criticism, saying that the relationship between the Awami League and India is deeply rooted in the history of the Liberation War of 1971. “We had good relations, and we still enjoy good relations with India,” said Mr. Mahmud, acknowledging the long-standing support that the Awami League has received from India since the fall of the Hasina government.

“In 1971, you opened your borders for almost ten million Bangladeshis, but it was the people of India who opened their hearts to us at that time. Recently, when Sheikh Hasina came to India, she received full protocol,” Mr. Mahmud said during the media interaction at the Press Club of India, which was organised by the International Crimes Research Foundation. The former Foreign Minister also took note of remarks made by some student advisers about “separating the northeastern States from the rest of India” and said that India would act if any threat to the territorial integrity of the northeast emanated from Dhaka.

Mr. Mahmud was accompanied by Mohibul Chowdhury Nowfel, former Education Minister in the Hasina government, who spoke about the threat posed by radical elements released from prisons in Bangladesh after the fall of the Hasina regime. Mr. Nowfel said that the police in Bangladesh have lost a large number of colleagues in revenge attacks and that there is a “culture of impunity” prevailing in the country, which has made maintaining law and order a difficult task.