Dhaka, Bangladesh – In the afternoon of July 16, 2024, when Abu Sayeeda, a student leader at the head of the protest against the leadership of the then Prime Minister Sheik Haisna, was shot by police in Rangpur – the North District – a differently different scene took place in the capital, Dhaka.
In the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, Abdur Rahman, the senior leader of the Hasina Awami League and the Minister in her government, sat down in his office, enjoying the recital of the poetry of the local poet.
From that day, the video captures Abdur Rahman wrapped in in his chair, leaning his fist on his right cheek, listens casually. At the end, he replied carelessly, “Wonderful.”
A few moments later, when the assistant informed him of the escalation of restlessness after Sayed’s murder, he rejected the concern, saying, “Oh, nothing will happen. Leader [Hasina] will solve everything. ”
This contrast between the tension that exploded into deadly violence on the streets of Bangladesh and the Minister’s seemingly casual posture has since become the embodiment of the Awami League from the basic reality in the midst of restlessness throughout the country for many in the country.
Less than three weeks later, Hasa’s government, accused of authoritarianism and brutality, was demolished by the uprising under the leadership of students. At least 834 people lost their lives in attacks on protesters and random passers -by by law clerks. The protests began on July 1 and ended on August 5 by Hasin by escape to India. More than 20,000 others were injured, including women and children.
The turnaround lowered the curtains to the 16-year leadership of Hasina. Now, five months later, her party – which has been the main power in Bangladeski policy since the birth of the nation – is still struggling to pick up pieces. There is a sharp division between party honicos who do not apologize and the leader of the middle level and activists who believe that Awami League has to think about where she has made a mistake-and that the way the 75-year-old political party resolves that gap to determine her future.
The party divided
Many Awami League leaders continue to reject responsibility.
“We are victims of international conspiracy; That will be proven soon, ”the phone joint secretary of the party, AFM Bahauddin Nasim, from an unknown location, told Al Jazeera on January 16th. He did not specify who he was accusing.
Analysts claim that such claims emphasize the denial of the leadership of their failures and inability to deal with the complaints of the public.
This in turn alienates the basic members of the party, many of whom are now hidden or afraid of legal consequences for killings. They regret the transformation of the party from the organization associated with the masses into the structure from the top down that lost contact with public feelings.
On August 5, 2024, while huge crowds marched toward Hasa’s official residence, the then prime minister joined her sister Sheikh Rehani in fleeing Ganabhaban (Prime Minister’s residence) in a military helicopter.
“While the dramatic escape was aired on TV, I was still on the streets of Khuln with some activists. I tried to call our senior leader, a local MP, but his phone was excluded, said Al Jazeeeri Higher local leader of the Bangradeska Chhatra League (BCL), the Awami League student wing, in the southwestern city of Khuln, seeking anonymity.
“At that moment, I felt cheated. ”
On October 2, 2024. The temporary government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Junus banned BCl. The once influential BCL leader from Khuln told his painful journey on safely. He fled to the neighboring Gopalganj before moving to Dhaku under the false identity.
“I changed my Facebook account, phone number and everything. I started a small job to survive. The party left us. I will never go back to politics, ”he said.
Similar feelings of abandonment were shared by local activists across the country.
While many members are silent, Samiul Bashir, a joint secretary of the Bangladeska league Krishak, an organization supporting the Awami League, was loud on social media platforms.
“Derendered activists have been aside for years. Since 2014, opportunists and family members of local MPs have dominated party structures on the basis, which has led to a disaster, ”he told Al Jazeera.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Pro-Awami League leader’s association expressed similar frustrations. “The procedures and words of those who rose into the party’s trademark have been catastrophic, especially in the last few years.”
Referring to the failures of the party, he told Al Jazeera: “It was a harsh reality that our party relied on the intelligence reports in the decision -making decisions. I noticed that many top leaders are not aware of how decisions were made or who made them. ”
Analysts say the lack of democratic practice also pushed the party into disarray. During the last decade, all the basic units of the Awami League and its associated organizations in the Dhaka Metropolitan area, for example, acted with obsolete committees, relying on the same old members without any changes.
Without remorse
The Awami League has yet to issue an official apology or statement in which he recognizes the fierce procedures of his government during the student uprising, known as the “July Movement”.
Instead, the party repeatedly rejected the movement to statements – such as a statement for the print of her youth wing of the JUBO League of January 10 – describing it as a “terrorist uprising”, allegedly orchestrated by forces that they aim to push the country toward “Pakistani ideology” .
During the almost one -hour conversation for Al Jazeera, Nasim repeatedly accused Islami Chhatra Shibir, a Bangladesh Student Wing Jama’at-e-Islami (Bji) parties, “fooling” students under the guise of movement against the quota. Movement against the quota 2024. He began in Bangladesh as a student protest against re -establishing a discriminatory quota system in public affairs. By escalating because of the government repression and a wide bloodshed, he grew into a wider uprising against Hasa’s government.
The jamat had a long -standing place in the Bangladesh policy, as he opposed the independence of the country from Pakistan in 1971.
During the recent leadership of the Awami League, five of the highest jam leaders and one higher leader from the main opposition Bangladeska nationalist party (BNP) were executed for war crimes. Both BNP and Jamaat were faced with sharp reps under Hasa’s government, including widespread forced disappearances and extrajudicial murders.
He admitted to Al Jazeera that his party made “strategic mistakes”, but he primarily attributed his failures to “intelligence failures”.
However, Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, a close associate of Hasina and the Minister of the Interior for 11 years to the Government’s dismissal, argued in a recent interview with Indian Express, the main Indian newspaper, that Awami League was the victim of “Joint Puč” who performed “Islamic terrorists and army ”.
Other close foreigners disagree.
Tanja Ahmad Sohel, the son of the first prime minister of Bangladesh Tajuddin Ahmad and the former State Minister of the Interior, complained about a lack of responsibility within the party.
“The Awami League must apologize to the Bangladesh people for injustice, oppression, corruption, robbery and laundry. I have yet to see self -realization, self -criticism or confession of guilt, ”he said in a television interview.
Al Masud Hasanuzzaman, an analyst and professor of political science at Jahangnaarar University in Dhaki, stated that the stubborn attitudes and decisions of the party had encouraged the anger of the public, silenced the path to the success of the rebellion.
“Fancing measures eventually harmed the popularity of Sheikh Hasina, turning her resignation on an individual request,” he told Al Jazeera.
Resurrection – a heavy battle
Hasina is not a foreign exile – or return.
After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s independence leader and most of his family on August 15, 1975, Hasina, his daughter, remained in India for several years.
But she returned to Bangladesh to run the Awami League in 1981. It took 21 years to rebuild the party and return to power.
“This time, however, is different; The party has fallen to a bloody uprising led by students supported by the army, and the image of Sheikh Hasine as leaders is seriously tired, ”said Hasanuzzman.
He claimed that Awami League was facing a serious crisis of image and leadership. “Without Sheikh Hasina, the recurrence of the party will be challenging, and the inner divisions are likely,” he said.
BNP and Jamaat, two other major political forces in the country, both said that they wanted leaders and activists of the Awami League who were involved in the killings of citizens last July and August faces trial. Ultimately, however, they claimed that the fate of the Awami League would be decided by people in the country.
However, the student movement that led the Hasina removal campaign took a much uncompromising attitude about the future of the Awami League.
At the street set of January 25, Mahfuz Alam, Advisor of the Temporary Yunus Government and the key student of the Student Movement, said the Awami League will not be allowed to participate in the next election, for which Yunus said he would be maintain by the beginning of 2026.
“Our focus includes prosecution of people involved in murderMissing and rapes during the implementation of reforms and securing honest elections with the participation of all Probogladeski political parties, ”he said.
From the Awami League perspective, the election could be proven to be key. “If al [Awami League] He can participate in the election, this will create a foothold for the return of the party, “said Hasanuzzaman.
“Still, political rebirth is very difficult [the] The Awami league without re -constructing public confidence through the guidance, organization and connection with people, ”he added.
But Riaz, a political analyst and professor at the Illinois State University, presented four conditions that Awami League should fulfill for any opportunity for a potential return: issuing unambiguous apologies for crimes committed over 16 years in power, especially for Uprising 2024; renunciation of his current ideology; ensuring that no member of Hasa’s family is again running the party; and confrontation with trials for committing disgusting crimes, including crimes against humanity.
“Those who are directly responsible for the crimes during the July uprising, including Sheikh Hasin, must face trials. Any discussion of their return can only be held if these conditions are fulfilled, “Riaz told Al Jazeera. Riaz is also Vice President of the Government Commission under the leadership of Yunus in charge of achieving a consensus on a series of proposed reforms.
However, many Awami League activists still trust Hasin, although occasionally privately criticized the abuse of power by her family.
High leaders use social media and talk shows abroad to invite them to regroup and suggest that the Government led by Yunus will “fall”.
But it is difficult to sell to party activists. In the compartment with comments below these claims of party leaders, these junior Awami league leaders reject – pointing out that it is easy to speak from the shelter of foreign country, while the activists on the ground are scattered and hid through Bangladesh.
Like a former student leader of Khuln, many of them are too afraid to publicly discover their identity. The political return seems to be far away.
