After the bloodshed: Can Bangladesh Aumi League resurrect? | Sheikh Hasina

Dhaka, Bangladesh – In the afternoon on July 16, 2024, such as Abu Sayed, a student leader in protests against the leadership of the then Prime Minister Sheikh Haisna, was shot dead by police in Rangpur-Respiratory Different stage was deployed in Capital, Dhaka.

At the Ministry of Fisheries and The cattle, Abdur Rahman, the senior leader of the Awami League of Hasina and the minister in her government, was sitting undisturbed in his office, enjoying a recital of poetry by a local poet.

The video of this day is filmed by Abdur Rahman, who embarks on his chair, resting his fist against his right cheek, listening carelessly. At the end, he offered a slight answer: “Great.”

Moments later, when he was informed by an assistant to the escalating excitement after Saed's murder, he rejected the worries, saying, “Oh, nothing would happen. The leader (Hasina) will handle everything. “

This contrast between tension, exploding in deadly violence on the streets of Bangladesh and the seemingly negligent behavior of the minister, has since been the personality, for many in the country, the interruption of the Awami League from the main realities against the backdrop of the national bull.

Less than three weeks later, the Hasina government, accused of authoritarianism and brutality, was Downloaded by an uprising led by a studentS At least 834 people have lost their lives In attacks against protesters and observers by law enforcement officers. The protests began on July 1 and ended on August 5, with Hasina running to India. More than 20,000 others were injured, including women and children.

Lifting removed the curtains of the 16-year-old Hasina leadership. Now, five months later, her party – which is a major power in Bangladeshi's policy from before the nation is born – is still struggling to take the pieces. There is a sharp division between non -napological party Honcho and mid -level leaders and activists who believe in the future.

Party is divided

Many Awami League leaders continue to divert responsibility.

“We are victims of international conspiracy; This will be proven soon, “said the party secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, told Al Jazeera by phone from an undisclosed place on January 16th. He did not specify who he accuses.

Analysts claim that such allegations emphasize the leadership of his failures and the inability to deal with public complaints.

This, in turn, confuses the party party members, many of whom are now hiding or afraid of legal consequences because of the killings. They mourn the party's transformation from an organization related to the masses to a top -down structure that loses a connection with public sentiment.

On August 5, 2024, when huge crowds headed to Hasina's official residence, then the then Minister of the Premiere joined his sister Sheikh Rehana in Running from Ganabhaban (Prime Minister's residence) aboard a military helicopter.

“While the dramatic escape was aired on television, I was still on the street of Hull with some activists. I tried to call our senior leader, the local legislator, but his phone was turned off, “the senior local leader of the Bangladesh Chtra (BCL), the Awami Leagu Student Wing Anonymity.

“At that moment, I felt lied toS “

On October 23, 2024, the Provisional Government led by Nobel Laureate Mohammed Yunus Prohibit BCL. Once an impactful BCL leader from the Hull story about his painful journey to safety. He escaped to a neighboring GoPalganj before moving to Dhaka under a false identity.

“I changed my Facebook account, a phone number and everything. I started a small business to survive. The party abandoned us. I will never go back to politics, “he said.

Such feelings of abandonment were shared by activists of local people across the country.

While many members remain silent, Samul Bashir, Assistant Secretary of the Bangladesh KriSak League, Pro-Whowami League organization, is vowel in social media platforms.

“The engaged activists have been removed for years. Since 2014, opportunists and family members of the local legislators have dominated the party structures of the main ones leading to the crash, “he told Al Jazeera.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the leader of the Pro-floami Doctors Association has echoed such frustrations. “The actions and words of those who have risen to be the face of the party have been catastrophic, especially in the last few years.”

Reflecting on the failures of the party, he told Al Jazeera: “It was a harsh reality that our party became strongly relying on intelligence reports to make decisions. I found many top leaders who do not know how decisions were made or that they make. “

Analysts say the lack of democratic practices has also immersed the party into disorder. Over the last decade, all the low Awami league units and its affiliated organizations in the Dhaka metropolitan area, for example, work with outdated committees, relying on the same old members without any changes.

No -worry

The Awami League has not yet issued an official apology or a statement recognizing the grave actions of its government during the uprising, led by students known as “July Movement”.

Instead, the party repeatedly rejects the movement, as the statements – as a press release on January 10 from its youth wing, Jubo League – describing it as a “terrorist uprising”, allegedly organized by forces aimed at pushing the country to “Pakistani ideology”.

During the almost one -hour conversation with Al Jazeera, Nasim also repeatedly blames Islamic Chibir, the Bangladesh student wing Jamate-e-islami (BJI) Party of “misleading” students under the guise of the movement of anti-kuta. The Anti-Kuta Movement in 2024 in Bangladesh began as a student protest against the restoration of a discriminatory system for public job quotas. Escapes because of governmental repression and widespread bloodshed, it has become a broader uprising against the Hasina government.

The Jamaat has long had a controversial place in Bangladeshi's policy, since in 1971 it opposed the country's independence from Pakistan.

During the recent leadership of the Awami League, five senior Jamaat leaders and one senior leader of the Bangladesh (BNP) main opposition nationalist party (BNP) were executed for war crimes. Both BNP and Jamaat have encountered severe repression under the Hasina government, including widespread vanished and out -of -court killings.

Nasim admitted to Al Jazeera that his party has made “strategically wrong steps”, but attributes his failures mainly to “intelligence gaps”.

However, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, a close assistant to Hasina and the Minister of the Interior for 11 years until the removal of the government, according to a recent interview with The Indian Express, a major Indian newspaper that the Awami league was the victim of A “A” The joint coup “carried out by Islamic terrorists and the army.”

Others close to the party disagree.

Tanhim Ahmad Sohel Taj, the son of the First Prime Minister of Bangladesh Tajudin Ahmad and a former State Minister of the Interior, complained of the lack of accountability in the party.

“The Awami League must apologize to Bangladesh people for injustice, oppression, corruption, looting and washing billions. I have not yet seen self -realization, self -criticism or recognition of guilt, “he said in a television interview.

Al Masud Hasanuzaman, an analyst and professor of political science at the Jahangingrtern University in Dhaka, claims that the party's hard positions and decisions are nourishing public outrage, making the way to the success of the uprising.

“The fanatical measures eventually hurt Sheikh Hasina's popularity, turning her resignation into a only demand,” he told Al Jazeera.

Resurrection – a difficult battle

Hasina is no unknown with exile – or return.

After the murder of Independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the greater part of his family on August 15, 1975, Hasina, his daughter, remained in India for several years.

But she returned to Bangladesh to lead the Awami League in 1981. It took 21 years to restore the party and return to power.

“However, this time is different; The party fell into a bloody uprising led by the students, supported by the military, and the image of Sheik Hasina as a leader is very tainted, “said Hasanuzman.

He claims that the Awami League faces a severe image and leadership crisis. “Without Sheikh Hasina, the party's recovery will be a challenge and the internal divisions are likely,” he said.

BNP and Jamaat, the two other major political forces in the country, said they wanted Awami League leaders and activists involved in citizens' killings last July and August to face a lawsuit. In the end, however, they claim that the fate of the Awami League will be resolved by the people of the country.

However, the student movement, which has led the Hasina Removal campaign, takes a much safer position for the future of the AWAMI League.

At a street rally on January 25th Mahfuz Alam, an adviser to the Junus Provisional Government and a key leader of the Student Movement, said the Awami League would not be allowed to participate in the next elections that Yunus would be will be Held until the beginning of 2026.S

“Our focus includes Pursuing persons involved in murderThe disappearance and rape in the implementation of reforms and the provision of fair elections with the participation of all political parties of pro-Bedgolds, “he said.

From the AWAMI League point of view, the election can be decisive. “If Al (Aumi League) can participate in the election, it will create a support for the party to return,” Hasanuzaman said.

“Still, political revival is very difficult for () the Awami League without restoring public confidence through leadership, organization and connection with local,” he added.

Ali Riaz, a political analyst and a professor at Illinois State University, outlined four conditions that the Awami League will have to meet some chance for a potential return: issuing an unequivocal excuse for crimes committed in the 16 years, especially in power, especially of the uprising in 2024; refusing your current ideology; Guaranteeing that no member of the Hasina family again leads the party; and confronted with lawsuits for disgusting crimes, including crimes against humanity.

“Those who are directly responsible for the atrocities during the July uprising, including Sheikh Hasina, must face trials. Any discussion about their return can only be held if these conditions are met, “RIAZ told Al Jazeera. Riaz is also the Vice-President of the Government Committee, led by Yunus, charged with the construction of a consensus on a series of proposed reforms.

However, many Awami League activists continue to believe in Hasina, although they occasionally criticize abuse of power from her family alone.

Senior leaders abroad use social media and talk shows to call them to regroup and assume that the Yunus -led government “will fail.”

But it's difficult to sell party activists. In the comment section, these claims from party leaders, these Junior Awami League leaders, are repelled – it is easy for the outstanding leaders to speak from the sanctuary of foreign land when the activists on Earth are scattered and hide through hiding through Foreign Bangladesh.

Like the former student leader of Hoal, many are afraid to reveal their identity publicly publicly. Political return feels long.