Dhaka, Aug 5 (IANS) Bangladesh police have arrested another 1,593 Awami League leaders and activists in a nationwide operation amid the ongoing crackdown on the party by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, local media reported on Tuesday.

Additionally, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has taken into custody 11 Awami League activists in raids at different places in the capital, as confirmed by the Deputy Commissioner of DMP Muhammad Talebur Rahman.

Among the arrested activists of Awami League is online Awami League blogger and activist, Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, Bangladesh’s leading Bengali daily Samakal reported.

All the arrested persons were charged in multiple criminal cases in connection with last year’s July demonstration.

Condemning the arrest of Kamal Pasha Chowdhury, Awami League leader and former Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting of Bangladesh, Mohammad Arafat took to social media, calling it “unjust”.

“Pro-Liberation activist and artist Kamal Pasha Chowdhury has been unjustly arrested — another act of repression under Yunus’s authoritarian grip. It is with deep alarm and indignation that we report the arrest of Kamal Pasha Chowdhury—renowned artist, General Secretary of Charu Sangshad, a leading figure in the Sammilita Sangskritik Jote (a platform of various cultural organizations) and a staunch secular, pro-Liberation voice,” Arafat posted on X.

“He was taken into custody this afternoon by the Detective Branch (DB) of the Metropolitan Police from an office in Lalmatia, Dhaka, without any stated charges. This is yet another step in Yunus’s ongoing project to silence pro-Liberation voices in order to appease the anti-Liberation Islamist forces whose support he relies on,” the post added.

The Awami League’s media cell reported that the country is witnessing an alarming surge in “fake legal cases, mob violence, and political revenge” under the Yunus regime

The party highlighted a “collapse of the justice system” in Bangladesh amid a “tsunami of fake cases” since the fall of the democratically-elected Awami League government led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“From satirical arrests of former ministers, to dead men falsely accused in murder cases, to mobs unleashed if bribes go unpaid, the judiciary has become a stage, not for justice — but for political theatre,” the Awami League stated.

Analysts reckon the developments as a major political vendetta being pursued by the Yunus regime, as several cases were filed against the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her supporters, and the working officials during her tenure on frivolous grounds immediately following her ouster in August 2024.

The unceremonious exit of Hasina last August was globally seen as a major setback to the democratic set-up in the country. The interim government has also received massive criticism for providing shelter to radical and extremist Islamic outfits.

–IANS

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