PV Desk
The government has outlawed the Awami League’s student front Bangladesh Chhatra League, or BCL, citing its involvement in murder, torture, rape, and terrorism, particularly during the last 15 years of the Sheikh Hasina regime.
The decision to proscribe the student outfit was announced on Wednesday through a gazette published by the Public Security Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The gazette said Chhatra League has been involved in various activities that disrupt public security. These activities include murder, torture, residential hall-based oppression, seat trading in student hostels, tender manipulation, rape, and sexual harassment, particularly during the last 15 years of autocratic rule.
Documented evidence of these activities has been published in all major media outlets of the country. Some of its leaders and activists have been found guilty in court in connection with certain terrorist incidents. During the anti-discrimination student movement that began on Jul 15, 2024, Chhatra League leaders and activists launched a frenzied and reckless armed attack on protesting students and ordinary citizens.
This attack resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent students and individuals and endangered many more lives. Even after the fall of the Awami League government on Aug 5, Chhatra League remained involved in conspiratorial, destructive, and provocative activities against the state, as well as terrorist actions.
The government possesses sufficient evidence of these continued activities.
Therefore, the government, under the powers vested in it by section 18, sub-section (1) of the ‘Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009’, “hereby declares the student wing of the Awami League, Bangladesh Chhatra League, as a banned organisation, and lists the student organisation Bangladesh Chhatra League as a prohibited entity under Schedule-2 of the said Act”.
The same law that the Awami League used to ban Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir on Aug 1 has been employed to outlaw BCL.
The ban came hours after leaders of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement had issued an ultimatum on the Muhammad Yunus-led administration to ban BCL by Thursday.
The deadline was set during a protest rally held at the Central Shaheed Minar on Tuesday, where demonstrators also demanded the resignation of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.
Following the announcement of the ban, students celebrated on the Dhaka University campus with a victory procession on Wednesday night.
Later on Wednesday, the home ministry’s political branch-2 issued a gazette officially banning the long-standing student organisation.
It said, “The organisation launched a frenzied and reckless armed attack on protesting students and citizens, killing hundreds of innocent students and individuals and endangering the lives of countless others.”
Founded as the East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League on Jan 4, 1948, at Fazlul Haque Muslim Hall of Dhaka University, the organisation evolved into the Bangladesh Chhatra League after independence.
During Pakistan’s rule, BCL played a pivotal role in leading student movements for rights and autonomy, as well as during times of national crisis.
Many of its leaders and activists sacrificed their lives during the 1971 Liberation War and other movements.
Even in post-independence Bangladesh, BCL remained active in protests against military rule.
However, after the 1990 democratic uprising, the organisation’s reputation began to shift.
Over the past 15 years, during the Awami League’s rule since 2009, BCL has faced criticism for involvement in committee trading, extortion, and tender manipulation.
In 2019, BCL’s then president Rezwanul Haque Chowdhury Shovon and general secretary Golam Rabbani were removed from leadership amid allegations of extortion.
BCL members were also found guilty in the high-profile murders of Biswajit Das, a tailor in 2012, Jahangirnagar University student Zubair Ahmed in the same year, and a student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, or BUET, Abrar Fahad in 2019.
Following an attack by BCL on students at Dhaka University in July this year, the Anti-discrimination Student Movement took a violent turn. Photos of armed BCL activists attacking protesters were widely published in the media.
BCL’s President Saddam Hossain and General Secretary Sheikh Wali Asif Inan, who had been in leadership since 2022, faced accusations for their involvement in the attacks.
Since the fall of the government, anti-discrimination student protesters had intensified their demand for the banning of BCL. Over the past few days, their call gained momentum.
On Tuesday, demonstrators gathered at the Central Shaheed Minar, carrying banners.
At the rally, Anti-discrimination Student Movement coordinator Hasnat Abdullah presented five demands, including the resignation of the president, the abolition of the constitution, and the banning of BCL.
On Monday night, the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, which led the quota reform protests, held a torch procession at Dhaka University, demanding BCL’s ban.
On Tuesday, the Committee for Swadhina Sharbobhoumotto Rokkha Committee, or SHAROC, held a one-hour sit-in at the foot of Dhaka University’s Raju Memorial Sculpture, calling for both the removal of the president and the banning of BCL.
Amid these demands, the government issued a gazette on Wednesday, officially banning Bangladesh Chhatra League under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009.
