The Bangladesh Awami League’s Central Executive Committee held a virtual meeting on Friday and adopted a nine-point set of demands, including the withdrawal of the ban on the party and the cancellation of what it described as “illegal” death sentences handed down by the International Crimes Tribunal.
The meeting was chaired by Awami League Presidium Member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, while party President Sheikh Hasina addressed the meeting as the chief guest, according to a press release issued by the party on Saturday.
The meeting reviewed the country’s political and socioeconomic situation, including law and order, energy supplies and the economy. The party said it expressed “deep concern and anger” over what it described as deterioration in these areas.
According to the statement, Sheikh Hasina said she had held discussions with leaders and activists from 83 district units and 160 electoral constituencies to assess the situation on the ground and the organisational condition of the party.
She claimed that conditions in various sectors of the country had deteriorated and urged party leaders and activists to remain engaged with the people.
She also instructed party officials responsible for organisational affairs to give priority to people who had faced persecution when filling organisational vacancies, according to the statement.
Hasina also called for the collection and publication of information about people who, she alleged, had faced persecution over the past two years, regardless of their political affiliation. She further called for those responsible for such persecution to be identified, the statement said.
The Awami League president also demanded the release of military and civilian officials whom she described as having been detained in “false cases”.
Referring to the violence during July-August 2024, she said law-enforcement personnel had attempted to protect lives and property and called for judicial investigations into all killings during that period.
Hasina also reiterated her intention to return to Bangladesh, according to the party statement, and alleged that the government was creating obstacles to her return.
She urged Awami League activists to remain alongside the people despite what she described as repression and legal action against the party and called for resistance “with the people”, the statement said.
Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader, Presidium Members Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Joint General Secretary A.F.M. Bahauddin Nasim, Organising Secretary S.M. Kamal Hossain and Sujit Roy Nandy, Central Working Committee member Mohammad Arafat and Deputy Secretary Raymond Areng were among those who addressed the meeting, according to the party.
The meeting also criticised recent decisions of the International Crimes Tribunal. The Awami League described the tribunal as lacking a legal basis and demanded the cancellation of death sentences against Hasina and other party leaders.
The nine demands adopted at the meeting were:
Reduction in prices of essential commodities;
Ensuring supplies of electricity, fuel, gas and fertiliser;
Employment opportunities for workers who have lost their jobs;
Reopening of closed industries and factories;
Release of all political detainees;
Withdrawal of what the party described as “false cases”;
Withdrawal of the ban on the Awami League;
Cancellation of the death sentences against Hasina and other Awami League leaders and abolition of what the party called the “illegal” tribunal; and
Withdrawal of cases against innocent military and civilian officials and release of those detained.
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