Awami League Working Committee Meets as Sheikh Hasina Outlines Next Strategy

On Tuesday morning, Sheikh Hasina held a meeting of the Awami League Working Committee to discuss the post-election situation in Bangladesh and the party’s future programs. She joined virtually from Delhi. Members of the Working Committee gathered at the residence of a Presidium Member of the Awami League.

At that meeting, Sheikh Hasina for the first time told the leaders to take mental and other preparations. This time, everyone will have to return to the country. They will have to come down to the field across the country. At the meeting held under the presidency of Sheikh Hasina, all members of the Working Committee delivered speeches. Several important leaders were present at the meeting who were not members of the Working Committee but also delivered speeches.

At the meeting, the leaders presented the country’s situation before Sheikh Hasina. Each leader informed Sheikh Hasina about the situation in the area for which he is responsible. The leaders said that the election that was held was merely a farce. At this time, Sheikh Hasina criticized the role of domestic and foreign observers. Sheikh Hasina said that several observers had stood in Bangladesh and stated that a very good election had been held. The same people, after returning to their own countries, submitted reports saying that on February 12 a staged drama had been performed in the name of an election in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina said that we cannot sit relying on such double-faced people. We must present to the people a proper explanation of why we are calling this election a farce. Sheikh Hasina told the leaders to conduct a detailed analysis of the election results. According to Sheikh Hasina, the people of Bangladesh responded overwhelmingly to the call for a vote boycott that Sheikh Hasina had given.

It is noteworthy that since election day, the Awami League has been raising questions about the voter turnout. The party has said that it is difficult to reconcile the claim of 60 percent voter turnout. During the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, there were allegations that in the 2018 election votes cast during the day were counted at night. Referring to that allegation at a previous party meeting, Sheikh Hasina said that this time the ballots of the February 12 election were stuffed into ballot boxes from the evening of February 11.

During the discussion, several leaders raised the issue of the ban imposed on the activities of the Awami League. Sheikh Hasina said that the ban is illegal for two reasons. First, the Awami League has not committed any crime for which its activities could be banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Second, the interim government of Mohammad Yunus was an illegal government. Any directive of that government can never be legitimate. Sheikh Hasina then, without naming the BNP government, said that we hope the current government will withdraw this illegal ban. If it does not, then we will make our own decisions. We will announce programs.

However, the way Sheikh Hasina asked the leaders at Tuesday’s meeting to take mental and other preparations to return to the country has led some leaders to believe that Sheikh Hasina may have received some positive message regarding the withdrawal of the ban. One leader said that Sheikh Hasina’s familiar confidence was evident in her speech at Tuesday’s meeting. Sheikh Hasina strongly claimed that the international community will not approve Bangladesh’s Thirteenth National Parliamentary Election.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader was not present at Tuesday’s meeting. He is reportedly ill. Those present at the meeting included Presidium Member Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Joint General Secretary Bahauddin Nasim, SM Kamal Hossain, Sujit Roy Nandi, Saiful Alam Nadel, Mirza Azam, and Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Nowfel, among others.

Source: The wall