Several Awami League leaders, including former Education Minister Mohibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel and former Foreign Minister of Bangladesh A.K. Abdul Momen, spoke at the event titled “Save Democracy in Bangladesh”, where two statements in English and Bengali by former Bangladesh PM Hasina were shared with the media persons. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Dhaka:

Over 150 students were injured in Bangladesh during clashes at a university campus this week, a sign of serious discord between groups instrumental in fomenting the national revolution last year that led to former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s downfall following 15-year rule. The clash between student outfits backing different political ideologies erupted at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KEUT) in the country’s southwest reportedly erupted over the issue of banning student politics on the university campus.

The violence began on Tuesday afternoon after the youth wing of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — the Jatiyotabadi Chatro Dol (JCD)– sought to recruit students at KUET. This sparked a confrontation with campus members of Students Against Discrimination (SAD), a protest group that led the uprising that ousted ex-premier Hasina last August.

The unrest on the campus was aggravated with protestors halting the functioning of the institute and all academic activities. The students are also demanding the resignation of Vice Chancellor Mohammad Mashud.

On Tuesday night, protesting students also reportedly locked up Mr Mashud and other senior officials on the KUET campus after a physical altercation.

Situation Under Control

At least 50 people were taken for treatment after the skirmish, Khulna police officer Kabir Hossain told news agency AFP.

“The situation is now under control, and an extra contingent of police has been deployed,” he added.

Footage of the violence showing rival groups wielding scythes and machetes, along with injured students being carted to hospital for treatment, was widely shared on Facebook.

Student Groups Blamed Each Other 

Both groups blamed the other for starting the violence, with the BNP student wing chief Nasir Uddin Nasir accusing members of Student Against Discrimination and Bangladesh Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, of initiating the recent attack and agitating the situation to force a confrontation.

Jamaat activists “created this unwarranted clash”, he told AFP. 

Local student Obayed Ullah told AFP that the JCD had defied a decision by the campus to remain free of activities by established political parties. He added that there was “no presence” of Jamaat on campus.

The incident provoked outrage among students elsewhere in the country, with a protest rally held late Tuesday night to condemn the BNP’s youth wing at Dhaka University.  

It is alleged that JCD activists distributed leaflets at the campus on Monday supporting the resumption of student politics on campus. SAD, on the other hand, responded with a parade in the university with various slogans for keeping the ban on student politics. 

Student Protest That Led To Hasina’s Fall

Students Against Discrimination launched protests last year that toppled Bangladesh’s former government and chased ex-leader Hasina into exile after 15 years of iron-fisted rule. 

Activists from the BNP joined with student protesters in the final days of Ms Hasina’s tenure, defying a bloody crackdown by security forces that killed hundreds.

The BNP is widely expected to win fresh elections slated to be held by the middle of next year under the supervision of the South Asian country’s current caretaker administration. 

Student leaders have, meanwhile, struggled to turn their success in engineering Ms Hasina’s fall into a durable political force. The student protesters, who spearheaded the movement against Ms Hasina, are set to launch a new party in Bangladesh.

Initially, they reportedly formed the Jatiya Nagorik Committee (JNC), a platform designed as a pressure group to bring together people from diverse backgrounds and political ideologies. They have so far wielded significant grassroots influence under the banners of the JNC and the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement (ADSM), according to a report by The Hindu.

According to the report, the student leaders are likely to be announced on February 24. 

Meanwhile, the South Asian country’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who heads the caretaker government installed after a popular revolution in August, announced that general elections in Bangladesh will be held in late 2025 or early 2026. 

Supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) shout slogans during a rally demanding a democratic transition through an election in Dhaka, Bangladesh. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Days after Chief Adviser Prof. Mohammad Yunus promised to hold an election in Bangladesh in 2025 or early 2026, a leading member of his Advisory Council declared on Wednesday that organising “just one election” was not the aim of the people-student uprising. The comment from Asif Mahmud, former student coordinator of the  Anti-Discrimination Students Movement and the current adviser in charge of multiple ministries, has stoked further discussion about the prospects of elections in Bangladesh which has been under the Interim Government since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in August.

“The people’s uprising had a one-point agenda; that was to bring down Sheikh Hasina’s government and end the fascist system. The fascist system has destroyed almost all the institutions of the country. For completion of the one-point agenda, it is necessary to implement the reforms process,” said Mr. Mahmud.

Also read | Student-advisers in interim government of Bangladesh gaining higher profile

Mr. Mahmud, who is in charge of the Ministries of Local Governance, Rural Development and Youth and Sports Affairs, said that multiple reform commissions, which were constituted in August, are on track. Citing Mr. Mahmud’s remarks, state-owned Bangladesh Sanbad Sansthan reported that he was talking about long-term issues that were beyond the ambit of electoral politics and said, “More than two thousand people did not die and more than twenty-thousand citizens were not injured just for holding one election or vote”.

He further said, “Our commissions have been working for nearly three months. They will give their recommendations and after that we will discuss the path ahead after discussing with various stakeholders.”

The remarks came days after Mr. Yunus came out with a promise to hold elections in Bangladesh. On the occasion of the Victory Day of 16 December, which annually celebrates the victory of the War of Liberation against Pakistan’s rule, Mr. Yunus had announced that elections in Bangladesh would be held either later in 2025 or during early part of 2026.

The announcement has ever since triggered speculation, with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party declaring last week that it was disappointed because Mr. Yunus did not give a specific date for holding elections.

In a press conference, BNP General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “We had hoped that the chief adviser would come up with a clear election roadmap, but he did not do so. This has left us and the nation disappointed.”

The reform process of the Yunus-led Interim Government has also received heightened public attention because of the goals they have set up.

Constitutional Reforms Commission’s head Prof. Ali Riaz pointed out that the constitution reform will aim to make Bangladesh more amenable to the ambition of its young population.

In an interview with popular news outlet Kaler Kontho Mr. Riaz said that the commission is trying to create more space for the participation of the young population in nation-building activities and to that end, the commission was considering reducing the 25-year age limit for MPst down to 21. “We urge political parties to keep 1/4^th or 1/3^rd of their nominations for the youth as tomorrow’s Bangladesh will be built by the young people,” Mr. Riaz was quoted as saying by Kaler Kontho.

A policeman walks past a portrait of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in Dhaka on January 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Bangladesh’s interim government on Sunday (November 10, 2024) said it will seek Interpol’s assistance in repatriating deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from India, and other “fugitives”, to face trial for alleged crimes against humanity.

Ms. Hasina and her party leaders face accusations of ordering brutal suppression of the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement, resulting in numerous casualties during the July-August protests. The movement later intensified into a large-scale uprising, forcing Ms. Hasina to flee to India on August 5.

According to the interim government led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, at least 753 people were killed and thousands injured during the protests, which it termed crimes against humanity and genocide. Over 60 complaints of crimes against humanity and genocide have been filed against Hasina and her party leaders with the ICT and the prosecution team till mid-October.

“A Red Notice will be issued through Interpol very soon. No matter where in the world these fugitive fascists are hiding, they will be brought back and held accountable in court,” Law Affairs adviser Asif Nazrul told reporters here after inspecting the status of renovation at the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which is housed in the Old High Court building on the Supreme Court premises.

Officials said a Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant, but rather a global request for law enforcement agencies to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. Interpol member countries enforce Red Notices according to their own national laws.

The ICT was originally formed by the Hasina-led Awami League government in March 2010 to try the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity committed during the 1971 Liberation War. It later formed ICT-2, and at least six Jamaat-e-Islami and leaders of Hasina’s arch rival Khaleeda Zia’s BNP party were executed following the judgments of the two tribunals. The tribunal remained dormant since mid-June after its chairman retired.

The interim government reconstituted the tribunal on October 12.

On October 17, the tribunal issued arrest warrants against Ms. Hasina and 45 others, including her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy and several of her former cabinet members.

The interim government had earlier said that Hasina and several of her cabinet colleagues and Awami League leaders will be tried in this special tribunal.

However, Chief Adviser Yunus in an interview with the UK-based Financial Times newspaper last month said his government would not immediately seek Hasina’s extradition from India, an approach seen as preventing diplomatic tensions between the two countries.