Sheikh Hasina has launched a stinging political broadside against the interim government, accusing Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus of replacing constitutional rule with what she calls “authoritarianism dressed up as transition” by sidelining her party Awami League ahead of the Feb 12 general elections.

In a wide-ranging written interview with ThePrint, the former prime minister said the suspension of the Awami League from political activity has hollowed out the electoral process, leaving tens of millions of voters effectively “disenfranchised”.

“You cannot ban the country’s oldest and most popular political party and then claim democratic legitimacy. That is not reform; it is authoritarianism dressed up as transition,” Hasina told ThePrint.

Although Yunus has insisted the Awami League has not been banned but merely “suspended from political activities”, Hasina dismissed the distinction as hollow.

“That is a distinction without meaning,” she said, arguing that a party that “can not campaign, organise or contest elections” is, in effect, barred from political life.

Bangladesh is scheduled to vote on Feb 12, but Hasina said the exclusion of her party has already poisoned the process.

“Elections held under such conditions cannot be considered free, fair or legitimate,” she wrote to ThePrint.

“Voters must be free to elect the party of their choosing and not be excluded from participating or coerced by door-to-door activists into voting for the BNP or [Jamaat-e-Islami] under threats of violence or destruction,” ThePrint quoted her as adding. She accused the interim government of deliberately clearing the field because it feared defeat.

“The interim government knows that if we were allowed to contest these elections, we would command overwhelming support. That is why we have been banned,” Hasina said.

“Let us not forget that Yunus himself has never received a single vote from the people of Bangladesh, and yet he has rewritten our country’s legal framework to legitimise his unlawful actions,” she was quoted in the report. The Awami League governed Bangladesh from 2009 until Hasina’s removal in August 2024, shaping nearly a decade and a half of the country’s political life. Now, as the February vote approaches, Bangladesh is heading into an election without the party that led the 1971 independence struggle and dominated post-independence politics.

Violence engulfed Bangladesh in mid-2024, when student-led protests over public sector job quotas spiralled into a nationwide revolt against her government. According to the interim authorities, roughly 1,400 people were killed as unrest spread across the country. Hasina told ThePrint she “regrets” every life lost but rejected claims that her government had provoked the bloodshed.

“We welcomed the legitimate protests led by the students and allowed them to proceed peacefully. We listened to their demands, and we addressed these, overturning the public sector job quotas that were the source of their frustration,” she wrote. She claimed the turning point came when the demonstrations were overtaken by forces working to bring her down.

“What we could not have foreseen was the turning point when extremist elements hijacked the protests. This was no longer a spontaneous and peaceful student movement, but a violent mob organised and directed by Yunus that sought violence, attacked police stations and destroyed state infrastructure,” Hasina told ThePrint.

“Like any legitimate government, our actions were guided by the instinct to protect our country’s institutions and prevent any loss of life,” she added.

On Aug 5, 2024, as violence intensified in Dhaka, Hasina fled her official residence, Ganabhaban, ending her 15 years in power. She has remained in India since then, a fact that has become a sensitive fault line in India-Bangladesh relations.

ThePrint reported that one of Hasina’s sharpest accusations against Yunus centres on the judicial inquiry she had set up to investigate the deaths during the protests — and which was scrapped almost immediately after the interim government took power.

“My principal frustration is that Yunus dissolved that inquiry immediately upon taking power, no doubt because he knew that it would expose the meticulous plan he orchestrated,” she wrote to ThePrint.

“That decision alone raises serious questions as to the motivations behind the protests and his seizure of power, including the matter of foreign involvement. Those questions deserve impartial investigation.”

Since her removal, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has sentenced Hasina and her home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal to death for crimes against humanity, citing her government’s attempts to suppress the 2024 unrest. Under Yunus, the Awami League’s organisational backbone has also been dismantled. Its student wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, was banned under anti-terrorism legislation — a law originally enacted under Hasina’s government in 2009 and amended in 2025 before being used against her party.

Hasina told ThePrint that Bangladesh is now sliding into chaos under an unelected administration that lacks the authority or will to control violence.

“Law and order cannot be maintained through fear or selective enforcement,” she wrote, calling for a swift return to “constitutional governance” and elections “held with the participation of all parties”.

Her warning comes after two days of unrest in December, triggered by the killing of Sharif Osman bin Hadi, a prospective candidate for parliament who was shot in Dhaka on Dec 12 and later died on Dec 18 while under treatment in Singapore. Protests spiralled into riots that saw the offices of Prothom Alo and The Daily Star set ablaze.

“The violence we are witnessing is the direct result of an unelected administration that lacks any popular mandate and has allowed our politics to be usurped by extremist factions,” Hasina told ThePrint.

“Instead of delivering ‘reform’, the interim government has elevated radical groups to positions of power, established rule by mob justice, and suppressed legitimate political voices,” she was quoted as saying.

“In Bangladesh today, there is no semblance of law and order,” she added.

“The Yunus government has routinely failed to act decisively against violence. Indeed, it has actively emboldened extremists who seek to spread their hardline ideology through daily acts of brutality, repressing any trace of pluralism in our society and dismissing any diversity of thought by labelling any dissenting voice as a political enemy,” she said according to ThePrint.

The December unrest included the lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, a Hindu man in Mymensingh, sparking protests in India and renewed concern over the safety of Bangladesh’s minorities. Hindus account for about 8 percent of the population. India has repeatedly urged Dhaka to do more to protect minorities since Hasina’s fall.

Yunus has argued the violence is largely political or criminal rather than communal, saying only 71 of 645 incidents against minorities in 2025 had communal elements, according to ThePrint. Hasina, however, sees a deeper ideological shift.

“Bangladesh was founded on secularism, pluralism and democratic values. The rehabilitation of Jamaat-e-Islami and other extremist factions threatens the very fabric of our nation,” she wrote to ThePrint.

“When radical groups are allowed back into mainstream politics, they do not moderate the state. They seek to reshape it in their own image and remove any trace of pluralism,” she added. Jamaat has re-entered mainstream politics since Yunus lifted the ban on its activities, while its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir has won university elections across several campuses.

Hasina also accused the interim government of tolerating what she called a systematic attempt to rewrite Bangladesh’s past — including the vandalism and demolition of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s historic home at Dhanmondi 32.

“What we are seeing today is the deliberate erosion of historical truth,” she wrote to ThePrint. “Extremist and revisionist forces have tried hard to dilute the reality of our hard-won independence from Pakistan in 1971, blurring the distinction between victim and aggressor.”

“This truth may be inconvenient to the interim government, which wishes to paint the Awami League as enemies of the state, but it is a truth nonetheless,” she added.

“A nation that forgets the price of its freedom becomes vulnerable to those who once denied it. Preserving the truth of our Liberation War is not about politics. It is about safeguarding our identity and sovereignty.”

As Bangladesh moves towards its most uncertain election in decades, February now looms as a reckoning — not only over who governs, but over what kind of state the country is becoming.

Sheikh Hasina has delivered her first public address in India since her overthrow, calling Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus a “murderous fascist” and accusing his interim government of plunging the country into “terror and lawlessness”. The ousted prime minister spoke via an audio message to a packed hall at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in New Delhi.

The event titled “Save Democracy in Bangladesh” was attended by former ministers from her Awami League government and members of the diaspora, as per NDTV. Hasina, who was sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal over allegations that she ordered the killing of 1,400 people to suppress protests in Bangladesh, is described by her opponents as a “corrupt, fascist, autocrat”.

She is also accused of trying to perpetrate power by manipulating three general elections and overseeing extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and holding political opponents in secret jails. She accused Yunus of running an “illegal, violent” administration and repeatedly described him as a “usurper”, “money launderer”, and “power-hungry traitor”.

“Bangladesh stands today at the edge of an abyss,” Hasina said at the outset, invoking the Liberation War and the legacy of her father, independence hero Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

She said the country had been reduced to “a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of death”, with human rights trampled, press freedom extinguished, and violence against women and minorities rampant. The Awami League chief said her removal from office on Aug 5, 2024 was the result of a “meticulously engineered conspiracy” that had plunged the nation into what she described as an age of fear.

“From that day, democracy has gone into exile,” Hasina said, warning that life and property no longer enjoyed protection as law and order had collapsed nationwide. She painted a picture of a country gripped by “mob” violence, looting, and extortion, stretching from the capital to rural areas, and blamed extremist groups and foreign interests for what she described as the systematic destruction of the state.

The sharpest criticism was directed at Nobel laureate Yunus personally. The Grameen Bank founder assumed office on Aug 8, 2024 to lead the interim government, shortly after the July Uprising forced the fall of the Awami League administration. Hasina accused him of bleeding the country dry and pushing Bangladesh towards a wider regional conflict by allegedly handing over national resources and strategic interests to foreign powers.

“By betraying the nation, the murderous fascist Yunus is pushing our beloved motherland towards disaster,” she said. Calling the address both a warning and a rallying call, Hasina urged “all democratic, progressive and non-communal forces of the pro-Liberation camp” to unite in restoring the constitution, which she said had been written “in the blood of martyrs”.

She also portrayed the Awami League as the “only legitimate guardian” of Bangladesh’s democratic and pluralist traditions, describing it as the country’s oldest political party and one deeply embedded in its political and cultural foundations. Hasina outlined five demands she said were essential to restoring stability. The first was the removal of what she called the “illegal Yunus administration” to create conditions for free and fair elections. “Bangladesh will never see a credible election while this clique remains in power,” she said.

Her second demand focused on ending daily violence and restoring public order, arguing that economic recovery and basic civic services depended on stability. The third called for firm guarantees to protect religious minorities, women, and vulnerable groups from targeted attacks.

Fourth, she demanded an end to what she described as politically motivated legal action against journalists, Awami League leaders, and opposition figures, calling for the judiciary to be restored as an impartial institution.

Her final demand urged the United Nations to conduct “a fresh and impartial investigation” into events over the past year.

“The international community stands with you,” Hasina told supporters, adding that the interim authorities had failed to listen to the will of the people.

Earlier, in an interview with NDTV, Hasina said Bangladesh was sliding towards authoritarian rule and extremist influence.

Speaking from India, she recounted the events surrounding her ouster, the destruction of her family’s historic residence, and what she described as state-backed attacks on minorities and democratic institutions. She urged Bangladeshis not to lose hope, calling on them to join what she described as a struggle to reclaim democracy and restore constitutional rule.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy, the son of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, says his mother had intended to retire from politics after serving out her term before she was overthrown by the July Uprising. He made the remarks to Al Jazeera English in a video interview published on Thursday. Asked if Hasina had planned to retire from politics or if she meant to re-enter politics if she had the chance to return to Bangladesh, Joy said:

“No, she is old. My mother’s elderly. This was going to be her last term anyway. She wanted to retire.”

The interviewer then asked if this spelled the end of the Hasina era.

Joy answered, “Possibly, yes…”

However, he added that the Awami League still intended to go on.

“Awami League is a political party,” he said. “It’s the oldest party. It’s been around for 70 years. It’s, it will continue with or without her. She… No one lives forever.”

Asked about the Awami League’s brutal response to nationwide protests in July 2024, Joy said:

“If you’ve listened to my statements online, I have said again and again the Awami League mishandled the protests. Our government mishandled the protests.”

When the interviewer pushed back, stating that the word “mishandle” was downplaying the killings of hundreds of protesters by security forces, he responded:

“If my mother had been willing to kill protesters, she would still be in power. You look at what’s happening in Iran right now. Are they able to do anything? No. My mother… my mother stated… my mother’s statement again and again, and to me, our, my conversation that day was: ‘They are marching on the prime minister’s residence, our special security force and uh, the prime minister’s guards are ready to defend her, but if we, if that happens, hundreds will die. I don’t want their blood on my hands.’”

“That is what my mother said. During that time, hundreds of police officers were killed. Hundreds of our activists were killed as well.”

Following the July Uprising, reporting from Al Jazeera and the BBC analysed and verified audio recordings in which Hasina is heard to authorise the use of lethal force against protesters. In the clip, she is heard saying: “I’ve issued an open order, now they will use lethal weapons and shoot wherever they find them.”

Joy claims the clip was taken out of context.

“I have put that full clip on my Facebook page,” he said. “She says she orders the arrests of protesters and lethal force to protect property and life against militants. There were militants involved in [the protests]. There are videos online of civilians with weapons…”

The interviewer then states a search of Joy’s social media pages had not found any such clip and asked him to share it. Joy said he would.

Joy also denied that the order had authorised lethal force broadly. He said Hasina’s orders was intended “for violent protesters, armed protesters, terrorists. Not for unarmed protesters… in any country would the government… what happens if there are armed protesters shooting at people and shooting at police? What would they do?”

Asked about specific deaths, such as those of 25-year-old Abu Sayed, 12-year-old Zobaid Hossain Imon, and 25-year-old Mir Rahman Mugdho, he said:

“It was a very violent situation. There were police officers who used excessive force. Our government term, suspended many police officers during that time. We formed a judicial committee to investigate. Why weren’t those investigations continued?”

He added that Hasina had met Abu Sayed’s family after the killing as well as the families of others killed, promising them full investigations into their deaths and accountability for those responsible.

However, Joy also disputed the findings of multiple investigations and watchdogs that put the death toll of the July Uprising around 1,400. He claimed the UN report that determined the toll had blamed deaths after the fall of the Awami League government on its actions.

Asked whether Hasina and the Awami League are unwilling to take accountability for the killings and abuses of state power, he responded, “No, that is not what I’m saying at all. What I’m saying is this. We did not grant immunity to anyone. We wanted justice for everyone. Anyone who was responsible for any deaths…”

When asked if Hasina would be held accountable if she was responsible, Joy said:

“My mother did not order any killings. My mother did not want any deaths.”

‘IF YOU BACK SOMEONE INTO A CORNER, WHAT WILL THEY DO?’

As the upcoming general election looms closer, the Awami League have come out in opposition to the polls and to their ban from contesting them.

Some of Joy’s own words on the matter have been described as incendiary. In a previous interview, he said: “We will not allow elections without the Awami League to go ahead. We will do whatever it takes. If the governments crack down on our protests, then it’s going to lead to violence.”

Asked about this aggressive stance, Joy said: “When you push someone into a corner, what else… what’s going to happen? We don’t want violence. We’re not even being allowed to protest. So what violence is the Awami League committing right now? … What I’m saying is if you back someone into a corner, you do not leave them any options; what are they going to do?”

The interviewer then asked whether this rhetoric and its violent implications were not the very justification the interim government was using to ban the Awami League as a violent threat.

Joy said, “I did not threaten violence. I said that if you suppress the protests with violence, of course there will be violence. I did not ask my protesters to attack.”

“Look, if we had the ability to conduct killings in Bangladesh right now, do you think this regime would still be standing? No. Right now the Awami League… we do not have the violent, uh, personnel, if you will, that perhaps some other organisations have…”

He also disputed allegations that the Awami League was involved in the killing of Inqilab Moncho convener Sharif Osman Hadi.

“I don’t know who the shooter is,” he said. “There have been many names that have been floated.”

“Again, do you see the Awami League out on the streets in Bangladesh? That’s not even happening. We have tens of thousands behind bars. Every time we’ve tried to protest, they’ve just arrested everybody. So, the Awami League is not involved in any violence whatsoever. Our campaign now is asking people not to vote in these rigged elections. That’s what we’re doing.”

BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman has bashed Jamaat-e-Islami and the party’ recent activities during the launch of the election campaign at a rally at the Alia Madrasa ground in Sylhet. He called a member of the audience to the stage and said, “You have been to the Kaaba Sharif. Who owns the Kaaba Sharif?” The man responded, “Allah.”

Tarique then said, “We are all Muslims. Who is the owner of this world that we see in this day and age?” The man again responded, “Allah.”

“Who is the owner of the sun and the stars that we see?” Tarique asked, and the answer came “Allah.”

The BNP Chairman asked, “Who is the owner of heaven?”

“Allah.”

“Who is the owner of hell?”

“Allah,” the man said, as the crowd chanted in unison, “Allah, Allah.”

Then Tarique said: “You all bore witness that the owner of hell is Allah; the owner of heaven is Allah; the owner of this world is Allah; the owner of the Kaaba is Allah. Brother, does anyone else have the power to give away what is owned by Allah? No. So, before the election, if a party says, ‘We will give you this, we will give you that,’ doesn’t that mean ‘I will sell you tickets?’”

“If they speak of things that are not owned by humans – isn’t that ‘Shirk’? If they speak of something that is owned by Allah, which only Allah has control over? Only Allah has rights over everything – Allah has rights above all.

“That is why they are cheating you already. Then think how they will cheat you after the election.”

The BNP chairman said, “They are not only deceiving the people, they are making those who are Muslims commit ‘Shirk’. We seek refuge in Allah.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, this country, this country, this beloved motherland, was liberated at the cost of the lives of millions of people during the war in 1971. We saw what roles people played during the liberation of this motherland. We saw who played a role in hundreds and thousands of our brothers being martyred. The honour of hundreds of thousands of the mothers and sisters of this country was defiled. The people of Bangladesh already know them.”

Tarique said, “We have to unite against this apostacy, this rashness, this lie. We have to take back Bangladesh.

“We have freed the country from tyranny, now we have to establish human rights. Just establishing the right to vote and speak is not enough; we have to make arrangements to empower people and raise them onto their own feet. We have to make arrangements so that every person in Bangladesh can eat properly and live well. We have to make arrangements so that every person can walk safely on the streets. That is what it means to take back Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh Nationalist Party has announced a seven-day mourning period following the death of the party’s chairperson and Bangladesh’s three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia. The announcement was made at a press conference held at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday morning by BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.

Rizvi said that during the seven-day period, party leaders and activists would wear black badges. Quran recitations and prayer gatherings will be held in all offices. Condolence books will be opened at the BNP headquarters in Paltan and Gulshan. The schedule for her burial and final rites will be announced later. Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, passed away at 6:00am on Tuesday.

The Workers Party of Bangladesh and the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal–Jasod have decided to stay away from the forthcoming general elections and the referendum on the July charter, scheduled for February 12. The two political parties, also the allies of the Awami League-led alliance from 2008 to August 2024, in separate statements, said that they did not submit nomination papers to contest the election and alleged that the election would be held in a unilateral manner.

They also said that cases filed against their party leaders in connection with the July uprising had not been withdrawn, and that this was why they had been refraining from participating in the election.

None of the leaders and activists of the Workers Party of Bangladesh, led by Rashed Khan Menon, and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal–Jasod, led by Hasanul Haque Inu, submitted nomination papers for any of the constituencies across the country.

Besides, several leaders of different Jatiya Party factions who initially collected nomination forms refrained from submitting the papers on Monday, the last date for filing nomination papers.

Jatiya Party faction chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, JP’s another faction secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, senior co-chairman Kazi Firoz Rashid, and Krishok Sramik Janata League president Abdul Kader Siddique are among the senior leaders of the parties who did not submit their nomination papers within the scheduled time, leaders of the parties said.

They alleged that the interim government and the Election Commission had failed to ensure a level playing field for all political parties. They said that cases filed against their leaders after the July uprising had not been withdrawn. The JP faction in November launched a political alliance named ‘National Democratic Front’, comprising 18 political parties, and had initially prepared to contest the national election.

However, JP faction chairman Anisul Islam Mahmud and executive chairman Mujibul Haque Chunnu submitted their nomination papers on Sunday for their respective constituencies. The Awami League regime was ousted from power on August 5, 2024 amid a mass uprising and the Professor Muhammad Yunus-led interim government took office on August 8, 2024.

Khaleda Zia, three-time former prime minister of Bangladesh and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, passed away at 6:00am on Tuesday. She was 80. At the time of her death, those present at the hospital included her eldest son and BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, his wife Zobaida Rahman, their daughter Zaima Rahman, Khaleda Zia’s younger brother Shamim Eskander and her elder sister Selina Islam.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and members of the medical board were also in attendance. The BNP media cell confirmed the news. Khaleda Zia had been undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in Dhaka for various health complications. She was admitted to the hospital on November 23, and following medical examinations, doctors confirmed that she had developed a lung infection. The veteran politician had long been suffering from multiple health conditions, including arthritis, diabetes, kidney complications and eye problems.

Earlier, she travelled to London on January 7 for advanced medical treatment and returned to Bangladesh on May 6 after receiving medical care for 117 days. Born in Dinajpur district, Khaleda Zia rose to national prominence following the assassination of her husband, President Ziaur Rahman, in 1981.

She later led the BNP to multiple electoral victories and served as prime minister from 1991 to 1996, briefly in 1996, and again from 2001 to 2006.

Dhaka – Sajeeb Wazed, son of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has urged Bangladesh’s interim government to lift the ban on the Awami League, warning that elections held without the party would be illegitimate and could deepen political instability.

Speaking to The Associated Press from Washington D.C., Wazed said, “This ban has to be lifted. Elections must be inclusive, free, and fair.” He added that current restrictions are “political manipulation disguised as justice,” aimed at preventing his mother and party leaders from participating in the upcoming polls.

Bangladesh is scheduled to hold national elections in February 2026, the first since a student-led uprising last year ended Hasina’s 15-year rule and forced her into exile in India. Three days after her ouster, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus assumed the role of interim head of government, promising to restore order and implement reforms. In May, his administration banned Awami League activities and arrested many of its senior leaders, while others fled the country.

Wazed stressed that if the Awami League is not given sufficient time to prepare for the election, the results “will not be recognized by the people or by international observers.”

The political landscape remains fragmented. While the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) remains a key contender, the Jatiya Party continues to face suppression, including attacks on its headquarters and disrupted rallies. The Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami has also reemerged, expanding its presence and seeking alliances with other hardline groups. Wazed warned that ongoing instability could benefit Islamist parties and accused the Yunus-led government of facilitating their rise through a “rigged election.”

Wazed also highlighted human rights concerns, citing arrests, custodial deaths, and attacks on religious minorities. He criticized the interim government’s handling of last year’s uprising and questioned the impartiality of special tribunals prosecuting Hasina, including a recent call for the death penalty.

International rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists, have urged Yunus to lift the “broad ban” on Awami League activities, calling it an excessive restriction on freedom of association, assembly, and expression. The interim government has not commented on Wazed’s remarks.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday urged all political parties to take part in the upcoming national election, putting aside minor differences, to help restore the democratic process in the country.

“I call upon all political parties to join the coming election by putting aside small differences so that together we can bring back democracy in the country and return to the democratic system,” he said.

He made the call while speaking at a program marking the 21st founding anniversary of the Daily Naya Diganta at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy in the capital. Fakhrul said he believes the election will be held on time in February 2026. “We also think that through an acceptable election to all, we will get an opportunity to return to a democratic system.”

He said the student-led mass uprising in August 2024 created a new opportunity to establish a truly democratic state.On behalf of the BNP, Fakhrul paid deep tribute to all the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in 2024 for freedom and democracy. He mentioned that the interim government has already announced that the election will be held by February next year.

The BNP leader expressed the hope that the reform issues had already been settled, as the political parties had agreed upon them and signed the National July Charter.

He alleged that around 6 million political leaders and activists faced false cases, about 20,000 were killed, and 1,700 others became victims of enforced disappearance during the past “fascist rule” of the Awami League.

Recalling the post-Liberation War period, Fakhrul said the media, particularly the press, faced severe repression. “After the establishment of Baksal in 1975, all newspapers were shut down. I remember that many journalists became unemployed, and some even worked as hawkers in front of Baitul Mukarram, as there were no newspapers left.”

After the political changeover in 1975, he said, BNP founder and late president Ziaur Rahman was the first to move away from the one-party system and introduce multi-party democracy, ensuring press freedom.

“We must not forget that the key reforms began during his (Zia’s) time and were later carried forward by former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia,” Fakhrul added.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has stated that the future of the nation’s economy and its overall political landscape hinges upon the upcoming general election. He alleged that, overall, BNP leaders and activists have endured the most severe political persecution in recent years.

He made these remarks on Tuesday afternoon, while addressing an extended meeting of the Thakurgaon Sadar Upazila and Ruhea Thana BNP units as the chief guest at the Thakurgaon District Shilpakala Academy auditorium.

The senior BNP leader claimed that the party’s workers have faced unprecedented oppression during what he termed the 16-year ‘dictatorial’ rule of Sheikh Hasina. Providing statistics, he asserted that nearly 6 million leaders and activists have been targeted with ‘false’ cases. Furthermore, he alleged that 20,000 workers have been ‘killed’ and 1,700, including three sitting MPs, have been ‘forcibly disappeared’ (gums).

He observed: “Our political activists can, at least, sleep peacefully at night now.”

Fakhrul mentioned that numerous party workers in Thakurgaon have spent long periods in prison and been convicted in false cases over the last 15 years. He expressed gratitude to the lawyers for providing crucial legal assistance during this period.

On the subject of a nationwide referendum (or plebiscite), Mirza Fakhrul disclosed that the BNP has proposed to the National Consensus Commission that the national election and the referendum be held simultaneously on the same day. The meeting was chaired by Thakurgaon District BNP President Mirza Faisal Amin.

Among the other attendees were District BNP General Secretary Paygam Ali, Municipal BNP President Shariful Islam Sharif, Sadar BNP President Abdul Hamid, Ruhea Thana BNP President Abdul Jabbar, and other local leaders from the BNP and its affiliated bodies.