Ex-BCL leaders stage demo in Dhaka demanding withdrawal of arrest warrant, cases against Hasina

A group of former leaders of the Bangladesh Chhatra League staged a demonstration in Dhaka yesterday protesting the arrest warrant issued for Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and demanded immediate withdrawal of the cases lodged against the former prime minister.

They carried out the protest march in front of the central office of the Awami League on Bangabandhu Avenue in Gulistan on Monday morning. 

Former joint general secretary of BCL Anwar Hossain said, "Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country."

He said they were protesting the "injustice against her with numerous false cases" and demanded the cases be withdrawn immediately.

Sheikh Hasina resigned from her post as prime minister and fled the country on 5 August after the student-led mass uprising led to the ouster of her Awami League government. After that, the party's central office, Dhanmondi office and other party offices across the country were vandalised. 

Since then, more than two hundred cases have been registered against Sheikh Hasina in connection with killing students and the public  during the July-August violence centring the student movement. 

Earlier on 17 October, the International Crimes Tribunal issued arrest warrants against 54 people, including Sheikh Hasina. 

She has been ordered to be arrested and produced before the tribunal by 18 November.

Also present in the procession were former BCL joint general secretary Jasim Uddin, public education secretary Abu Abbas Bhuiyan, Awami Swechasebak League member Sheikh Muhammad Jamal Hossain, former BCL leaders Enamul Haque, Hasan Ahmed Khan, MM Nazmul Hasan, Sohel Rana, Parveen Mishu, Labani Chowdhury and Md Hasan, among others.