India expresses concern after AL barred from polls

India on Tuesday expressed concerns over the ban imposed by the interim government on the political activities of Bangladesh Awami League.

The government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus banned Awami League as a political party on Sunday, pending the outcome of a trial over its crackdown on mass protests that prompted Hasina's ouster last year.

The Awami League is the oldest political party in Bangladesh and led the country's liberation war in 1971.

"The ban on the Awami League without due process is a concerning development," said Spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Randhir Jaiswal during a regular media briefing in New Delhi.

As a democracy, he said, India is naturally concerned at the "curtailment of democratic freedoms and shrinking political space."

"We strongly support the early holding of free, fair and inclusive elections in Bangladesh," said the MEA spokesperson.

Yunus, 84, has said parliamentary elections will be held as early as December, and by June 2026 at the latest.

On Sunday, the government issued a gazette notification banning all activities of the Bangladesh Awami League and its affiliated organisations under the Anti-Terrorism Act until the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) completes the trial of the party’s leaders and activists.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 protesters died in July-August 2024, when Hasina's government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition.

Hasina, 77, remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity.

ICT was set up in 2009 by Hasina to investigate crimes committed by the Pakistani army during Bangladesh's war for independence in 1971.

It is the third time the Awami League has been banned.

The first came in 1971 under Pakistani military ruler Yahya Khan and the second was in 1975 under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman when he initiated a one-party government in Bangladesh.