Bangladesh Interim Govt Has No Plan To Ban Sheikh Hasina's Awami League

Bangladesh's interim government has no plans to ban the Awami League party, said new Home Minister Sakhawat Hossain

Hasina, 76, fled to India on Monday as protesters flooded Dhaka's streets in a dramatic end to her iron-fisted rule (Image: PTI)

Source : PTI

Bangladesh's new home minister Sakhawat Hossain on Monday said the Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus-led new interim government, now running the country, had no intention of banning ousted premier Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party.

Addressing the reports about a possible ban on Hasina's political outfit, the violence-hit South Asian country's new Home Minister Sakhawat Hossain said, "The party has made many contributions to Bangladesh -- we don't deny this"

"When the election comes, (they should) contest the elections," Sakhawat Hossain was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.

This comes a week after Bangladesh's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a dramatic turn of events. The 76-year-old leader resigned as prime minister on August 5 and fled to India as protesters flooded the capital Dhaka's streets to her iron-fisted rule. Her government was accused of widespread human rights abuses, including the extrajudicial killing of thousands of her political opponents, during her 15-year rule.

The military announced her resignation and agreed protesting students' demand to appoint Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus as a leader of the caretaker government. Muhammad Yunus returned from Europe on Thursday to lead a temporary administration facing the monumental challenge of ending disorder and enacting democratic reforms. Yunus, 84, took office as "chief advisor" to a caretaker administration, comprised of fellow civilians bar one retired brigadier-general, and has said he wants to hold elections "within a few months".