India slams ban on Hasina’s party, calls for early elections
Bangladesh bars Awami League from polls
- Dhaka: Bangladesh’s Election Commission had suspended the registration of the Awami League, the commission’s Secretary, Akhtar Ahmed, said late on Monday.
- The move effectively bars the party from contesting the next national elections.
India on Tuesday said the ban imposed by the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, on all activities of the Awami League, the party led by ousted former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was a concerning development.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “The ban on the Awami League without due process is a concerning development. As a democracy, India is naturally concerned at the curtailment of democratic freedom and the shrinking of political space. We strongly support the early holding of free, fair and inclusive elections in Bangladesh.”
The interim government on Monday slapped a ban on “all activities of the Awami League” under an anti-terrorism law. Reacting to the ban, the Awami League, in a post on X, said, “We are rejecting and protesting the fascist autocrat Yunus government’s decision with disgust…Awami League will carry on its activities in an appropriate course, defying the decision of the fascist Yunus government.”
The party said it regretted that “today’s independent Bangladesh” had to witness the ban on Awami League activities by an “undemocratic fascist” government.
World