Bangladesh's interim govt bans Awami League-backed Chhatra League under Anti-Terrorism Act

Dhaka: Bangladesh's interim government on Wednesday banned ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League party's student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

A notification signed by Senior Secretary Md Abdul Momen of the Public Security Division under the Ministry of Home Affairs said the student body over the past 15 years under the Awami League government was involved in various activities that disrupted public safety, including murder, rape, torture, harassment in student dormitories, and tender manipulation.

The notification said there was sufficient evidence indicating the student body continued to engage in conspiratorial, destructive, and provocative activities against the State even after the fall of the Awami League government.

Hasina on August 5 fled to India in the face of violent protests against her government, leading to the death of hundreds of people since mid-July.

During the Anti-Discrimination movement, BCL leaders and activists attacked protesting students and the general public with arms, killing hundreds of innocent people and endangering the lives of many more people, the notification said.

The government has sufficient evidence that even after the fall of the Awami League government, the Bangladesh Chhatra League has been involved in conspiratorial, destructive and provocative activities against the State, it said.

Consequently, the interim government declared a ban on Bangladesh Chhatra League under Section 18(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009, it said, adding the organisation was listed as a banned entity with immediate effect.

The development comes amid protesters from the Anti-Discrimination Students Movement on Tuesday laid a five-point demand, including the scrapping of Bangladesh’s Constitution, President Shahabuddin’s removal, and a ban on the Chhatra League.

The BCL was founded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 4, 1948, as the East Pakistan Chhatra League. Later, after the War of Independence in 1971, the East Pakistan Chhatra League was replaced by the Bangladesh Chhatra League.