Bangladesh bans BCL, student wing of ex-PM Hasina’s Awami League
The government on Wednesday banned the Awami League-backed student body Bangladesh Chhatra League under the Anti-Terrorism Act on allegation of its involvement in breaching public security in various ways in the past 15 years.
The public security division of the home affairs ministry issued a gazette notification to the effect in the evening amid the demand raised by the Student Movement Against Discrimination, the platform that led July-August Student-People uprising ensuring the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s 15-year regime.
Relevant documentary evidences are available in all parts of the country and have been published in the mainstream media and the guilt of the organisation’s leaders and activists has been proven in court in some incidents of violence, said the notification.
During the Student Movement Against Discrimination-led movement since 15 July, BCL leaders and activists have attacked the protesting students and general public with arms, killing hundreds of innocent students and protesters and endangering the lives of many more people, it stated.
The government has sufficient evidence that even after the fall of the Awami League regime on August 5, the Bangladesh Chhatra League has been involved in conspiratorial, destructive and provocative activities against the state and various terrorist activities, it contended.
The government, under the powers provided in sub-section (1) of section 18 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009, banned the Bangladesh Chhatra League in Schedule-II of the law, stated the notification.
It said that the organisation was listed as a banned entity and it would take effect immediately.
Though the demand of banning the BCL came into forefront following the fall of the AL regime, the demand became even stronger on Tuesday after the Student Movement Against Discrimination placed five demands, including removal of the president, cancellation of the constitution and ban on the BCL.
The BCL was founded by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on January 4, 1948 as the East Pakistan Chhatra League. Later, after the War of Independence in 1971, East Pakistan Chhatra League was replaced by Bangladesh Chhatra League.
The then East Pakistan Chhatra League played an important role in the 1954 United Front elections. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the youngest minister in the United Front government of 1954. The leaders and activists of East Pakistan Chhatra League played a leading role in the education movement of 1962. Chhatra League leaders and activists waged student movement against the then Pakistan government.
The then East Pakistan Chhatra League played a historic role in the historic mass uprising in 1969.
In 1969, the students of Bengal organised a nationwide mass uprising, in which BCL leaders played the key role.
The role of the Chhatra League in the historic elections of 1970 was significant. Several thousands of Chhatra League leaders and activists were martyred in the War of Independence.
After the independence, the student organisation faced divisions at times and the faction backed by the Awami League were accused of various criminal and violent activists.
New Age
