After the bloodshed: Can the Awami Association in Bangladesh revive itself? | Sheikha Hasina

Dhaka, Bangladesh. On July 16, 2024, when Abu Saeed, the student leader who was at the forefront of protests against the leadership of then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasna, was killed by police bullets in Ranjabur – the northern region – a completely different scene was revealed in the area. The capital Dhaka.

In the Ministry of Fish and Livestock, Abdul Rahman, one of the leading leaders of the Awami Association led by Hasina and the minister in her government, sat in his office without disturbing him, enjoying the throwing of a local poet.

A video clip of that day shows Abd al -Rahman, who is leaning on his chair, putting his fist on his right cheek, and listening accidentally. In the end, he gave a light response: “Great”.

Moments later, when one of his assistants informed him of the escalation of the disturbances after Saeed’s death, he denied these concerns, saying: “Oh, nothing will happen. The leader (Hasina) will take over everything.”

This contradiction between the tension, which has turned into deadly acts of violence in the streets of Bangladesh, and the unofficial behavior of the minister, has since been embodied, for many people in the country, the Awami Association secession from the popular reality amid turmoil at the country level.

Less than three weeks later, Hasina’s government was accused of tyranny and brutality It was overthrown by a student uprising. At least 834 people They lost their lives In the attacks on demonstrators and passers -by by the employees assigned to enforcement. The protests began on the first of July and ended on August 5, with Hasina’s flight to India. More than 20 thousand others, including women and children, were injured.

The disturbances were brought down the 16 -year -old Hasina leadership. Now, after five months, her party – which was a major power in politics in Bangladesh since before the birth of the country – is still fighting for the pieces of cutting. There is a sharp division that arises between the members of the frank party, leaders and medium -level activists who believe that the Awami Association needs to think about the mistakes it committed – and that the way the 75 -year -old political party addresses this gap can determine its fate. future.

Divided

Many leaders of the Awami Association continue to disavow responsibility.

“We are victims of an international conspiracy. The party’s Secretary -General, Bahaa El -Din Naseem, told Al -Jazeera by phone from an unknown location on January 16, that this will be proven soon. He did not specify who accused.

Analysts believe that such allegations shed light on the denial of leadership for their failures and their inability to address public grievances.

This, in turn, leads to the alienation of the party’s popular base members, many of whom are now hiding or afraid of the legal repercussions on the killings. They delegate the party’s transformation from an organization linked to the masses to a structure from top to bottom that has lost contact with public feelings.

On August 5, 2024, while huge crowds were moving towards the official headquarters of Hasaina, then Prime Minister joined her sister, Sheikha Rihanna in Flee from Ganaban (Prime Minister’s residence) on a military helicopter.

“While the dramatic escape was broadcast on TV, I was still in the streets of Khulna with some activists.” I tried to contact our great leader, the local deputy, but his phone was closed, ”said a prominent local leader in the Banglish Chatra (BCL) The student of the Awami Association, in the southwestern city of Khulna, for Al -Jazeera, asking not to be identified.

“At that moment, I felt cheating“.

On October 23, 2024, the interim government led by the Nobel Prize winner was formed Muhammad Yunus Bcl was banned. BCL leader, who was previously influential from our horrific journey to safety. He fled to the neighboring Jobalgang before moving to Dhaka with a forged identity.

“I changed my Facebook account, phone number, and everything. I have started a small project to stay. The party has gave up. He said:” I will never return to politics. “

Popular activists throughout the country have shared similar feelings of abandonment.

While many members remain silent, Samiol Bashir, Assistant Secretary of the Bangladeshi Krishk Association, a pro -Awami Association, was speaking loudly on social media platforms.

Committed activists have been marginalized for years. He told Al -Jazeera: Since 2014, the labia and members of local lawmakers have taken control of the party’s structures at the popular level, which led to the disaster.

The leader of the doctors supporting the Awami Association, provided that his identity was not disclosed, spoke about similar frustrations. “The actions and sayings of those who have become the party’s front were disastrous, especially in the past two years.”

Commenting on the party’s failures, he told Al -Jazeera: “It was a harsh fact that our party has become largely dependent on intelligence reports to make decisions. I found that many senior leaders do not realize how to make decisions or those who make them.

Analysts say that the lack of democratic practices also led to the party’s entry into chaos. Over the past decade, all the popular units of the Awami Association and its organizations in the Dhakiya region, for example, were working with outdated committees, and dependent on the same old members without any changes.

No regret

The Awami Association has not yet issued an official apology or a statement in which it recognizes the harsh actions committed by its government during the uprising led by the students, known as the “July Movement”.

Instead, the party has repeatedly rejected the movement, with statements – such as the press statement issued on January 10 by its youth wing, the Jobo Association – which he described as a “terrorist uprising”, claimed that it was driven by forces aimed at pushing the country towards a “Pakistani rebellion” . Ideology. ”

During the conversation that lasted for nearly an hour with Al -Jazeera, a breeze has repeatedly accused the Islamic Shatra Shibir, the student wing in Bangladesh. Islamic Group (BJI), “misleading” students under the guise of the anti -quota movement. The anti -class movement for 2024 in Bangladesh began as a student protest against the restoration of the discriminatory shares system in public jobs. These protests escalated due to government repression and bloodshed widely, and developed into a broader uprising against Hasina’s government.

The group has always had a controversial place in the Bangladeshi policy, since it opposed the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971.

During the last leadership of the Awami Association Party, five of the group’s leading leaders and a senior leader of the main opposition party in Bangladesh National, on charges of war crimes. Both National Party and the group faced severe suppression campaigns under Hasina’s government, including widespread Forced disappearance And killing is outside the law.

Naseem admitted to Al -Jazeera that his party committed “strategic errors”, but he attributed his failures primarily to “intelligence lapses.”

However, Assad Al -Zaman Khan Kamal, an assistant close to Hasina and the Minister of Interior for 11 years, claimed the dismissal of the government, in an interview with him recently with the Indian Express newspaper, a major Indian newspaper, that the Awami Association was a victim of a “joint coup” carried out by the terrorists. Islamists and the army. ”

Others are close to the party.

Tangim Ahmed Suhail Taj, son of the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh Taj Al -Din Ahmed and former Minister of State for Internal Affairs, expressed his regret for the lack of accountability within the party.

“Awami should apologize to the people of Bangladesh for injustice, repression, corruption, looting and washing billions. He said in a television interview:” I have not yet seen any self -awareness, self -criticism or guilt. “

Al -Masoud Hassan Al -Zaman, an analyst and professor of political science at the University of Jahangnjnajar in Dhaka, said that the party’s positions and strict decisions fueled popular anger, which paved the way for the success of the uprising.

He told Al -Jazeera: “The fanatic measures eventually harmed the popularity of Sheikha Hasina, and turned her resignation into one demand.”

Resurrection – arduous battle

Hasina is not strange to exile – or return.

After the assassination of independence leader Sheikh Mujib Al -Rahman and most of his family members on August 15, 1975, his daughter Hasina remained in India for several years.

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

But this time it is different; Hassan Al -Zaman said: “The party fell into a bloody uprising led by the students with the support of the army, and the image of Sheikha Hasina was distorted as a leader.”

He said that the Awami Association is facing a severe crisis in the image and leadership. He said: “Without Sheikha Hasina, the rebuilding of the party will be difficult, and internal divisions are likely to occur.”

The Bangladeshi National Party and the Islamic Group, the two main political powers in the country, said they wanted to try leaders and activists of the Awami Association involved in the killing of citizens in July and August last. But they eventually emphasized that the fate of the Awami Association will be decided by the people of the country.

However, the student movement that led the campaign to overthrow sensitively took a more strict position on the future of the Awami Association.

In a rally on the street on January 25, Mahfouz Alam, the advisor of the interim government of Yunus and the main leader of the student movement, said that the Awami Association will not be allowed to participate in the upcoming elections, which Yunus said would be Holding by early 2026.

Our focus includes The trial of individuals involved in murdersAnd cases of disappearance and rape during the implementation of reforms and ensuring fair elections with the participation of all political parties supporting Bangladesh.

From the point of view of the Awami Association, the elections may be decisive. Hassan Al -Zaman said: “If the Awami Association can participate in the elections, this will create a foothold for the return of the party.”

He added: “However, the political revival is very difficult for the Awami Association without rebuilding the confidence of the public through leadership, organization and communication at the level of al -Qaeda.”

Ali Riyad, a political analyst and professor at Illinois State University, has set four conditions that the Awami Association must fulfill to obtain any opportunity for a possible return: issuing an unambiguous apology for the crimes it committed during the 16 -year power, especially the 2024 uprising. And give up its current ideology; And to ensure that no member of Hasina’s family led the party again; They face trials for heinous crimes, including crimes against humanity.

“The officials directly for the atrocities committed during the July uprising, including Sheikha Hasina, must face the trial. Riyad told the island that any discussion about their return can only take place in the event of the fulfillment of these conditions. Riyad is also the vice -president of the committee The government led by Yunus, which is charged with building consensus on a series of proposed repairs.

However, many Awami’s bond activists are still trustworthy, although they sometimes criticize the abuse of power on the part of her family secretly.

Overseas leaders abroad use social media and dialogue programs to urge them to re -assemble their ranks and indicate that the government led by Yunus “will fail.”

But it is difficult to persuade party activists. In the comments section at the bottom of those assurances made by the party leaders, these young leaders in the Awami Association – noting that it is easy for the exiled leaders to speak from a foreign landless, when activists on the ground are spread and hiding throughout the country. Bangladesh.

As is the case with the leader of our former Khulna students, many of them fear their identities publicly. It seems that the political return is far.