Bangladesh banned the student wing of ousted premier
Sheikh Hasina’s party on Thursday, citing its involvement in violent attacks on
demonstrations that toppled the autocratic leader. Hasina fled the country in August as thousands marched on her official
residence, ending a 15-year tenure that saw widespread human rights abuses.
The student wing of her Awami League party was accused of
propping up her iron-fisted rule, which saw the mass detention and
extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
A government notice accused the party’s youth wing, known as the Chhatra
League, of involvement in “murders, persecution, torture… and many other
activities that threaten public security”.
The statement added that the student group had been
outlawed under anti-terrorism laws.
Initially peaceful protests that began in July against
Hasina’s government turned violent when Chhatra League activists attacked
student demonstrators on university campuses. The attempt by pro-government cadres to quell the protests instead
fanned public anger, culminating in Hasina’s overthrow weeks later
More than 700 people were killed in the resulting unrest,
according to official estimates — most in clashes between police and
anti-Hasina protesters. A Bangladeshi court this month issued an arrest warrant
for the exiled leader, who fled to neighbouring India on the day of her
overthrow. Dozens of Hasina’s allies were taken into custody after her regime
collapsed, accused of culpability in the police crackdown.
Former cabinet ministers and other senior members of the Awami League have
been arrested, and her government’s appointees were purged from courts and the
central bank. Hasina, however, has not been seen in public since
fleeing the country by helicopter.
The 77-year-old’s last official whereabouts are a
military airbase near India’s capital New Delhi.
Her presence in India — her government’s biggest
benefactor — has infuriated the interim administration in Bangladesh that
replaced her. Dhaka has revoked her
diplomatic passport, and the countries have a bilateral extradition treaty
which would facilitate her return to face criminal trial.