AL must face trial, seek apology before returning to politics: Ali Riaz

Awami League must face the ongoing judicial process over the July Uprising killings and seek apology if it wants to return to active politics, said Prof Ali Riaz, special assistant to the chief adviser.

Speaking at a seminar titled “Rapture, Reform and Reimagining Democracy: Navigating the Agony of Transition” organised by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) at BRAC Centre in Mohakhali, Ali Riaz said the party has neither acknowledged the July uprising nor expressed any regret.

“Sheikh Hasina still believes the July Uprising was an Islamic militant movement backed by the West and meticulously designed by Prof Muhammad Yunus. With this mindset, there is no scope for making AL relevant in politics,” he said.

Rejecting commonly cited estimates of AL’s support base as flawed and baseless, Ali Riaz said claims that the party enjoys 40% or even 20% public support lack any credible justification. “If someone cites the 42% turnout in the staged 2024 election, then there is nothing more to say.”

He termed arguments about keeping a large number of Awami supporters outside the reform process as “crippled logic”, noting that the reform exercise was inclusive.

“About 56,000 people shared opinions through our website and surveys were conducted in 46,000 households. These were ordinary citizens. We did not work based on whether someone was AL or BNP,” Riaz said.

Explaining whether the absence of AL from the Consensus Commission made the dialogue less democratic, Ali Riaz said there was no practical way to involve the party.

“Can anyone give me Sheikh Hasina’s address so that I could send her a letter inviting her to the commission? Those who were around have fled with laundered money. Others are either in hiding or in jail. Under these circumstances, how could discussions take place with them?” he said.

Highlighting the limitations of the interim government, Ali Riaz said the bureaucracy has become stronger than before, while the government failed to exert effective control.

“The command AL had over bureaucrats does not exist for the interim government. Bureaucrats have taken advantage of this vacuum.”

On the failure to implement many recommendations of the reform commissions, he said the government lacked either the necessary will or the required authority in different cases. “As a result, many reforms never saw the light of day.”

Criticising civil society, Ali Riaz said it completely failed to work in solidarity with the interim government.

“They aligned themselves with one political party or another and did not stand by the government even for a moment,” he said, predicting that civil society would again fail to play a meaningful role in reform efforts under the next government.

Referring to the July movement, Ali Riaz said it was not a “revolution” but an “uprising”.

Although it failed to push the state decisively towards reform, he noted that significant changes are still possible through a referendum.