Dhaka, Nov 13 (IANS) In yet another incident of violence in Bangladesh, on Thursday, a mob vandalised and set fire to the Awami League’s central office in the Gulistan area in Dhaka, local media reported.

Citing eyewitnesses, Bangladesh’s Bengali daily Jugantor reported that the students’ union workers carried out the attack, while chanting slogans of “Naraye Takbir, Allahu Akbar”.

The incident occurred against the backdrop of the Awami League’s “Dhaka Lockdown Programme” announced on Thursday, centring on the Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal’s verdict in a case against the country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reportedly set to be delivered on November 17.

Reports suggest that earlier on Thursday, leaders and activists from the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing, Islami Chhatra Shibir, gathered in front of the Awami League’s central office to protest the lockdown programme.

Condemning the violence, the Awami League slammed the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, stating, “This is the democratic reform Yunus and his cronies are preaching, where the largest and most influential political party is under constant attack from the interim government and its partners.”

Earlier in the day, Awami League also urged its party leaders, activists, and supporters to remain vigilant against what it described as “conspiracies” of the Yunus-led interim government and its accomplices in connection with the “Dhaka Lockdown” programme.

The party alleged that the “illegal, usurping, fascist regime of Yunus and his cohorts” has unjustly deprived the Awami League of its democratic rights and violated the human rights of its leaders and activists, while making a mockery of justice through “false and harassing” cases.

Citing reports from several news outlets, the Awami League stated that “acts of violence and terrorism” are taking place with the tacit support of the Yunus administration across the country.

“We have repeatedly warned this illegitimate occupying force. We have said that Awami League leaders and activists know how to fight for their rights through struggle and movement. True to its tradition, the Awami League has announced a political program to assert those rights. The people have already responded enthusiastically to the announced Dhaka Lockdown programme. The overwhelming public response has terrified the illegal occupiers, and the scenes from Dhaka over the past two days clearly show how successful the Awami League’s programme has been,” read a statement issued by the Awami League.

–IANS

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