Bangladesh will be pushed towards civil war if AL registration not cancelled before polls: Nagorik Committee

Bangladesh will be pushed towards a civil war if the registration of the Awami League (AL) as a political party is not cancelled, Jatiya Nagorik Committee Convener Nasiruddin Patwary warned today (14 February).

"A serious crisis awaits the people if we do not make efforts to cancel the registration of Awami League before the election. We think that Bangladesh will be pushed towards a civil war.

"Therefore, I will tell the government, prominent individuals and political parties not to show mercy to their [AL] friends," he said at a discussion, titled "The Authoritarian Foundation of the Bangladesh State: The Possibility of a July Student-Popular Uprising", at the National Press Club in the capital.

"Boycott them [AL] socially and family-wise. Unite to demand justice. The only solution for the Awami League in Bangladesh is that they must go through trials. And after going through the trial process, those who were involved in the murder must be brought to justice," Nasiruddin said.

He called on the interim government to cancel AL's registration for "killing the democratic process".

"Because if we cannot resolve these two issues - the trial of the murderer Hasina and the ban of Awami League - then there is no way for the people to return to democratic Bangladesh," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Nagorik Committee leader also revealed that the upcoming political party, led by students, will be a centrist one.

"This party will not follow a binary process. There will be no ideological division," he said.

"We have to build a place of unity socially. And politically, based on this unity, we have to take a stand on the streets demanding justice for the people who have been injured and martyred.

"Through this public stand, we have to join the fight on the streets unitedly demanding the cancellation of the registration of the Awami League before the elections," he added.

Nasiruddin also spoke about the recent UN report on the July-August uprising.

"We have seen how our brothers were killed in different corners and different places. It has become clear how our brothers and sisters have been killed constantly on the streets for the last 15 years.

"We have seen in those reports that different political parties, different factions, and groups, who stood for the people of Bangladesh, were killed indiscriminately on the streets in an undemocratic manner," he said referring to the UN report. 

"But when we look at society outside this political circle, we see that just as the British kept us separated by creating Hindu-Muslim divisions, similarly, currently efforts are being made to keep our society divided by issuing various labels like Hefazat, Jamaat, BNP," Nasiruddin added.