“Yunus government has blood on its hands”: Former Awami League MP Bahauddin Nasim on violence in Bangladesh | World News

Former Bangladesh MP and Awami League Joint General Secretary Bahauddin Nasim termed former Prime Minister and Bangladesh Awami League President Sheikh Hasina’s statement alleging that the current Younis government has “blood on its hands” as “completely justified”.

His remarks came in response to Sheikh Hasina’s latest attack on the Interim Government led by Muhammad Younis.

Speaking to ANI from an undisclosed location, Nasim alleged that under the orders and auspices of what he described as the occupying and fascist Younis government, “countless people in Bangladesh have suffered violence and bloodshed at the hands of their supporters and many innocent people have died”.

He claimed that “a large number of people have lost their lives in Bangladesh, especially leaders, activists and supporters of the Awami League, religious minorities, indigenous communities and even youth, poets, writers and people from various walks of life”, adding that they “face and continue to face widespread terrorism every day”.

Nasim further said, “The actions of protecting and encouraging the murderers and the actions that aggravate this evil are all being carried out under the leadership of this unelected, occupying and communal Yunus government,” adding that these actions have “completely destroyed the environment of peace, harmony, development and prosperity that existed in Bangladesh” during the time when the Awami League was in power.

Stating that “Bangladesh is on the verge of destruction today,” Nasim blamed the “fascist Yunus government” for what he called extreme insecurity across the country.

Bangladesh is currently “grappled with fear, revenge, hatred and evil,” he said, adding that people believe “the entire country has turned into a closed prison.”

Nasim’s remarks came weeks ahead of parliamentary elections in Bangladesh scheduled for February 12 and followed former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s harsh public speech in which she harshly criticized the Interim Government’s Chief Advisor Muhammad Younis.

In a pre-recorded audio message at an event in the national capital, Sheikh Hasina described Younis as a “loan shark, money launderer, plunderer and a corrupt, power-hungry traitor” and alleged that he had “stained the soul of our homeland by bleeding our nation dry with his all-consuming paradigms”.

He said the nation must rise in unity and “be animated in this grave hour by the spirit of our great War of Independence” and called on citizens to overthrow “at all costs the foreign-serving puppet regime of this national enemy” and to defend and restore the Constitution “written with the blood of the martyrs”.

Sheikh Hasina said today Bangladesh is “navigating one of the most dangerous chapters in its history, a battered and bleeding nation on the edge of the abyss.”

Referring to the legacy of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, she said the homeland won through the Liberation War has been ravaged, adding that “the entire country has become a vast prison, an execution ground, a valley of death.”

Referring to her departure from the country in August 2024 during violent protests, Sheikh Hasina said that although she was the directly elected representative of the people, she was “forcibly overthrown” by “murderer fascist Younis and his militant anti-state accomplices”. She said the nation has since been plunged into an “age of terror,” adding, “Democracy is now in exile.”

Calling on democratic and progressive forces to unite, Sheikh Hasina called on them to “take a solemn oath to build a humane and welfare-oriented democratic state” and, in her words, to confront the designs of the Younis government and its collaborators.

Parliamentary elections will be held in Bangladesh on February 12. The Election Commission suspended Awami League’s registration as a party last year, while the Interim Government banned all activities of the party.