Ban on Awami League is bad news for democracy
Bangladesh's caretaker administration has banned Awami League, even as a special tribunal investigates and tries the party's senior leadership over the deaths of hundreds of protesters before party chief Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister last year by a popular uprising. It has offered 'protection of activists' who participated in the anti-Hasina protests, and 'plaintiffs and witnesses in the trial' as justification for the move. However, several concerns arise from the drastic step.
First, the Awami League, whose history is inextricably tied to the creation of Bangladesh and the country's foundational vision as a nation centred on Bengali linguistic identity, represents a particular line of political thought in the country's politics — a strand of which is secularism as a guiding principle for the State. Banning the Awami League sends out a signal to the domestic polity and the global community that the caretaker administration — which has representation and support from a cross-section of anti-Awami League outfits, including Islamists — wants to steer the country away from such a vision. The implications of such action are dire for a country where minority groups form a tenth of the population. Second, the ban has consequences for political representation and diversity in the country. Ensuring political representation to Hasina critics was one of the drivers of the uprising. Against this backdrop, the caretaker administration banning the Awami League seems a repeat of the Hasina-era blunders. Third, the ban shows the probe and the trial of Awami League leaders and activists in a dubious light. Whether fairness can be expected or not becomes uncertain, especially if the move ends up being a pre-emptive quashing of the Awami League's defence against accusations of criminality.
The caretaker administration must not play into the hands of the forces who want to rewrite Bangladesh's history. Democratic erosion is the last thing Bangladesh needs.
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