Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said the banned Awami League has no capacity to mount any activity around the second anniversary of the July uprising. The party was on one hand banned (its activities banned) and on the other a “mafia force,” he said; it could occasionally peek in from abroad, but nothing more could be seen of it.
He made the remarks in response to journalists’ questions in front of the home ministry at the Secretariat on Monday.
The Awami League government fell on 5 August 2024 during the July uprising. The home minister said a meeting on the 5 August law-and-order situation would be held on Tuesday, chaired by the prime minister, with representatives of all political parties present.
Salahuddin Ahmed said the Awami League would not be allowed to carry out sabotage around 5 August, and that the party no longer had the strength to do so.
A journalist drew the minister’s attention to news of the bail of former inspector general of police (IGP) Benazir Ahmed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. On this, he said the law firm engaged by the Bangladesh government had been asked to arrange to have Benazir’s bail cancelled quickly.
Salahuddin Ahmed said Benazir had been granted conditional bail, but that he could not yet say why it had been granted. Benazir held another country’s passport, he said.
Asked about a recently found “bomb-like object” at a metro station, the minister said there was no reason to panic. Some community or group had wanted to damage communal harmony, he said, and an investigation was under way into who was behind it.
Salahuddin Ahmed said extremist activity was now far lower than in the past. Law-enforcement forces were on alert, he said, and the government was determined not to let extremists and fundamentalists raise their heads.
Asked about the Bangladesh visit of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Sergio Gor, the minister said the visit had been significant. Gor himself had said the United States would give the Tareque Rahman government all kinds of support, he said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report