Dhaka, Bangladesh — Since early August, Fahmi *, 24, who utilized to be a dominant figure on the stretching school of Dhaka University in Bangladesh’s capital, has actually remained in hiding.
Fahmi belonged to the Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the trainee wing of previous Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League (AL) celebration that ruled over the South Asian country with an iron fist for more than 15 years before she was ousted and required to get away to neighbouring India following a student-led motion in August.
On Wednesday, Bangladesh’s interim federal government, led by its only Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus, stated the BCL a “terrorist organisation” and prohibited it. The Ministry of Home Affairs stated the BCL had a history of major misbehavior over the previous 15 years, consisting of violence, harassment and exploitation of public resources.
“Not long back, I was a voice of authority here,” Fahmi, an undergraduate trainee of used chemistry, informed Al Jazeera. “Now, I am running around like a fugitive without any likely future.”
Fahmi’s story mirrors that of countless trainees previously connected with the AL, whose once-powerful hold over Bangladesh’s schools collapsed over night. The previous powerbrokers on schools and the AL’s muscle on the streets now deal with expulsion, retribution and even jail time for their function in attempting to reduce the popular revolt versus Hasina and for the rights infractions they apparently devoted while she was in power.
Fahmi keeps he did not straight take part in the federal government’s lethal crackdown versus individuals throughout the anti-Hasina presentations. “My sis belonged to the demonstrations,” he stated. “I likewise thought in the cause however was caught by celebration commitments.”
The lethal demonstrations started in July after university student required the abolition of a questionable booking system in federal government tasks that they stated favoured advocates of the governing celebration. Bangladesh’s leading court ditched the quota, the demonstrations quickly changed into a larger call for the elimination of Hasina’s “autocratic” program, marked by claims of extensive rights infractions.
The federal government’s reaction was among the bloodiest chapters in Bangladesh’s history as security forces beat the protesters, and fired tear gas and live ammo on tranquil demonstrators, eliminating more than 1,000 individuals in 3 weeks and jailing countless others.
On August 5, as bold Bangladeshis stormed popular federal government structures, consisting of Hasina’s house and the parliament, the 77-year-old prime minister ran away the nation in a military helicopter and looked for sanctuary in New Delhi.
The violence, nevertheless, did not end with Hasina’s fall. The previous criminals of state atrocities ended up being the brand-new targets as numerous AL political leaders and members, consisting of trainees, were assaulted or eliminated. Lots of entered into concealing or were apprehended while trying to get away.
Fahmi stated the anti-Hasina protesters set fire to his household’s home and freezer service in Noakhali district, 173km (107 miles) from Dhaka. “They threatened to make my more youthful bro vanish if he didn’t divulge my location,” he stated. Far, they have not acted on the danger, stated Fahmi, though his more youthful sibling has actually been bullied at the madrasa [a Muslim educational institution] where he research studies.
Assessing his BCL participation, Fahmi confessed, “I was an excellent trainee who cared little for politics, however at Dhaka University, hall politics was inescapable. You either signed up with, or you suffered.” He confessed that being a BCL leader would enhance his potential customers of landing a federal government task– an attractive reward in a diminishing task market– specifically considering that his obligations towards his mom, 2 single siblings, and more youthful bro grew after his dad’s death 2 years ago
His commitment to the Awami League likewise suggested he was not constantly there for his household when they required him.
On August 15, 2022– simply a day after his dad’s death– he left his mourning household in Noakhali to participate in an occasion in Dhaka marking the anniversary of the death of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Hasina’s daddy and the leader of Bangladesh’s motion for self-reliance from Pakistan.
“Looking back, I see I prioritised the celebration’s approval over supporting my household,” Fahmi stated with remorse.
Now, while his erstwhile leader Hasina is safe in India, he deals with the consistent risk of violence or arrest, a situation that he states made him feel that he has actually been deserted by the celebration he when represented and the university he is a trainee of.
“The salam [peace] I provided and hours I invested buttering up our leaders and setting up celebration rallies … now appear worthless,” he stated bitterly. “The celebration utilized us as its political pawns however provided no security when we required it most. The routine fell unexpectedly; conserving myself from the upset mob was the hardest thing I ever dealt with that night. Neither leading celebration leaders nor BCL’s trainee leaders have actually inspected on me.”
With his last year examinations under method, he can not go to classes or finish his degree. “I wished to sign up with the civil service and serve the country,” he stated. “But stepping on school might cause my arrest on suspicious charges– or even worse, I might be beaten to death.”
Thousands in limbo
Fahmi’s scenario is far from distinct. The Awami League approximates that a minimum of 50,000 of its trainee affiliates throughout the country are now in limbo, having a hard time to continue their tertiary education.
Shahreen Ariana, a BCL leader from Rajshahi University, was jailed on October 18 on “created charges,” according to her household. She was apprehended while attempting to sit for a term-final test. Saikat Raihan, another BCL leader at Rajshahi University, was jailed on the exact same day.
The district cops, nevertheless, declared that both dealt with previous cases, however declined to supply files to back their claim. The university’s proctor, Mahbubur Rahman, informed Al Jazeera, “Other trainees declined to sit with any BCL leader throughout the examination.” To avoid any “mob justice,” Ariana and Raihan were turned over to the authorities. “We needed to step in,” he stated. “Otherwise, things might have become worse.”
On October 25, 2 more BCL leaders– Abul Hasan Saidi, a financing trainee and Kazi Shihab Uddin Taimur, a sociology trainee– were jailed while standing for examinations at Dhaka University. “There were existing cases versus the 2 trainees, and they were detained appropriately,” stated university Proctor Saifuddin Ahmed.
The wave of violence versus Awami League-affiliated trainees has actually spread out throughout schools. On the borders of the capital, previous Jahangirnagar University BCL activist Shamim Ahmed was beaten to death on September 18, while Masud, another BCL leader, was eliminated by a mob in Rajshahi on September 7.
“These are simply the reported cases,” states Redwanul Karim Sagor, who passes the name Sujon and was a senior BCL leader who is now in hiding. Sujon, almost 6 feet high, was using a crumpled black t-shirt and unpressed trousers, his hair untrimmed. Throughout our interview, he consistently asked if anybody else learnt about the conference. “There have actually been more killings, arrests and produced cases versus us, frequently in locations we’ve never ever even gone to,” he stated.
The interim federal government that took control of after Hasina ran away, led by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, released a gazette on October 23, formally prohibiting the BCL under the Anti-Terrorism Act 2009– a law that was brought, paradoxically, by Hasina’s federal government right after it concerned power in 2009.
This choice followed across the country demonstrations led by Students Against Discrimination (SAD), the trainee group that mobilised the trainees versus the Hasina federal government in July, and other groups requiring BCL’s restriction.
Abdul Hannan Masud, an establishing member of SAD, who earlier required this restriction, stated, “The Chhatra League can not run in Bangladesh. All their operatives will be recognized across the country and brought to trial.”
Authorities submitted a significant case over the July 15 BCL-led attack on protesters, incriminating 391 people, consisting of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and a number of BCL leaders. It likewise names approximately 1,000 unknown people.
Considering that the restriction on the trainee body on October 23, officers in the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) verified to Al Jazeera the arrest of a minimum of 10 BCL leaders from the city. More than 100 trainee activists were detained from throughout the nation.
“Almost all of these arrests are under cases submitted over July demonstrations,” stated a senior DMP authorities, looking for privacy, “based upon no particular charges however under suspicion, and mainly since of their association with Chhatra League.”
Amidst this unstable environment, Sujon informed Al Jazeera he now resides in a secret area.
We satisfied on October 21 in a little, rundown coffee shop made from wood and bamboo over a canal along a desolate roadway, far from any area, where passing cars and trucks would sometimes stop. We sat at a corner bench under dim lighting as Sujon continuously moved his look towards the window, his eyes betraying his stress and anxiety, as he kept downing glasses of water.
At one point, 2 automobiles brought up outdoors, their residents pausing for water. As a broad-shouldered male marched, Sujon’s face tightened, his voice picking up a minute before he handled to continue sharing his story.
“I matured in a generation that just saw Awami League in power. Lining up with them was the only choice,” he stated.
Sujon was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in physics at Rajshahi University and was one final-term test far from graduation before the August turmoil required him into concealing.
Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, a previous minister in Hasina’s cabinet, now in exile in India, criticised the interim federal government for the insecurity dealt with by BCL trainees. “This federal government declares to be constructing a discrimination-free Bangladesh,” he informed Al Jazeera. “Yet it’s denying countless trainees of their right to education.”
He argued that sidelining the BCL, the nation’s biggest trainee organisation with an approximated 100,000 members, might have repercussions for all of Bangladesh. “How can Dr Yunus want to construct a much better future for Bangladesh while omitting such a considerable section of its youth?”
Chowdhury stressed that his celebration stays devoted to its members. “When the time is right, we will defend their rights,” he asserted, “and guarantee they can finish their education without worry.”
Azad Majumder, Muhammad Yunus’s deputy press secretary, informed Al Jazeera that “everyone is totally free to sign up with routine scholastic activities unless there are any criminal charges versus him or her”.
When asked about the federal government’s procedures to secure trainees from mob violence or approximate arrests, he stated, “I have absolutely nothing to include.”
Rahman, the university proctor, worried that the school violence that prevailed when the BCL controlled need to not be duplicated in “brand-new” Bangladesh. “Authorities goal to make sure all trainees finish without dealing with violence,” he specified, keeping in mind that examinations are under method to recognize the criminals of violence on the university’s school from July 15 to August 5.
“Any trainees condemned will deal with disciplinary actions according to the university’s standard procedure,” he included.
Turnaround of fortunes
For more than a years, the BCL ruled schools with an iron grip. The Chhatra Dal, the trainee wing of the most significant opposition celebration, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, handled to keep an existence however was frequently on the defensive. The Islami Chhatra Shibir, the trainees’ body of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh’s biggest Muslim celebration, was required underground.
Various media reports over 16 years reveal trainees being displaced of schools– tortured, or perhaps gruesomely killed– by BCL members on suspicion of ties to the Shibir, which in August this year was prohibited by the Hasina federal government under the very same anti-terror law now utilized versus the BCL.
The restriction on the Shibir was raised by the Yunus federal government. And now, the tables have actually switched on the BCL more broadly, with opposition trainee wings recovering control throughout schools.
“BCL developed a system of modern-day slavery,” stated Abu Shadik, president of the Chhatra Shibir’s Dhaka University system– the very first openly stated Shibir committee in years. “Students needed to line up with BCL to protect dormitories; dissenters dealt with a living inferno. Some signed up with for survival, others for individual gain.”
“All BCL operatives who quelched trainees or signed up with the July violence should deal with justice. The typical trainees have actually declined them from society,” he informed Al Jazeera. “Even those who didn’t attack however stayed quiet are culpable. To fix up, they need to confess to BCL’s 16 years of cruelty, the July ‘genocide,’ and look for forgiveness. Just then can reintegration be thought about.”
In a different discussion, Nahiduzzaman Shipon, basic secretary of the BNP’s Dhaka University system, remembered the reign of violence on school when the BCL controlled. “Awami League turned BCL into a force to rig votes, reduce dissent, and bypass the law,” he mentioned.
Shipon included that the BCL utilized sickles, machetes and guns versus their peers. “After 2009, lots of Chhatra Dal [BNP] members were tortured and required off schools, their education interrupted.”
While precise figures on BCL-linked killings are not available, the opposition price quotes recommend that the toll faces the hundreds.
Still, Shipon firmly insists, his celebration, the BNP, is not promoting for vigilante justice versus BCL members.
“Any trainee without criminal charges is welcome back to school, despite their political associations,” he stated. “But those who utilized cruelty as political enforcers need to be held liable under Bangladeshi law.”
A law that the celebration of trainees like Fahmi as soon as managed has actually now turned versus them.