Don't forget we put you in power, AL ban is biggest reform: Hasnat to Yunus

Banning the Awami League (AL) will be the biggest reform as this party had turned Bangladesh into a slaughterhouse, said National Citizen Party Chief Organiser (South) Hasnat Abdullah today (3 May).

"Dr Yunus, do not forget. We put you in power. Awami League will not return to Bangladesh. A ban on the Awami League will be the biggest reform. It had turned Bangladesh into a slaughterhouse.

"It [AL] is a terrorist organisation, not a political party. We will continue our movement till Sheikh Hasina is hanged," Hasnat said while addressing a rally organised by Hefazat-e-Islam in Dhaka.

National Citizen Party Chief Organiser (South) Hasnat Abdullah addresses the rally of Hefazat-e-Islam in the capital's Suhrawardy Udyan on Saturday, 3 May 2025. Photo: Collected

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League government were ousted from power on 5 August last year by a mass uprising led by students.

On 8 August, Prof Muhammad Yunus took the responsibility of running the country as the chief adviser of the interim government at the request of the students.

The NCP, which has been formed by the students who spearheaded the mass uprising, has called on the interim government to ban the Awami League and cancel its registration as a political party, asserting that families of July Uprising martyrs and injured are ready to demand its complete prohibition.

At the Hefazat rally today, Hasnat said, "The same Sheikh Hasina who attacked the country's Islamic scholars on 5 May [2013] has now fled with her tail between her legs.

"I would urge Hefazat-e-Islam to publish a list of the martyrs of 5 May and continue the demand for justice from them."

He also said that the controversial proposals presented by the Women's Affairs Reform Commission have to be changed.

Today's rally at Suhrawardy Udyan aims to push the government to meet Hefazat's four-point charter of demands, including the abolition of the Women's Affairs Reform Commission.