AL elimination bid to push state towards dictatorship: Mahfuj Alam

Mahfuj Alam, a former adviser of the interim government, has warned that any attempt to eliminate the Awami League in the manner Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami was previously targeted would push the state toward a deeper dictatorship.

“Attempting to eliminate Awami League in the same way Jamaat-e-Islami was previously targeted would drive the country further toward coercive rule rather than democratic,” he said while addressing a programme held at Brac Centre Inn in Dhaka on Thursday.

The truth and reconciliation was expected after the July uprising, but the hope has been ruined, he said, adding that no one should desire to create another monster in the country.

According to him, daunting a major political force requires continuous repressive laws, which make the state more repressive and authoritarian and if it is done, the consequence will be as in the past.

About the role of the interim government, Mahfuj Alam, a key leader of the Student Against Discrimination Movement, said the Prof Mohammad Yunus-led administration has failed to address the new political settlement that lay at the heart of the July uprising.