The Awami League, whose activities as a political party remain banned in Bangladesh, on Friday held what observers billed as its first Central Working Committee meeting since being ousted from government through the July Uprising of 2024. 

With most of the party’s top leaders having fled to India in the aftermath, Friday’s meeting was initially planned to be an in-person event, at the Indian Air Force safehouse on the outskirts of Delhi where party president Sheikh Hasina has been residing throughout this entire period.

Those plans had to be shelved however, after word got out and the Indian government possibly intervened in the matter. Delhi has been increasingly receptive in recent times, to Dhaka’s more assertive stance on tying the scope of bilateral relations to the extent the Indian government allows Hasina to use Delhi as a base for carrying on her political work.

And so in the event, the much touted meeting had to be held on a virtual platform. 

The party’s Presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim presided over the meeting, which was moderated by the party’s Liberation War Affairs Secretary Mrinal Kanti Das. Hasina delivered the keynote address as chief guest.

In her address, Sheikh Hasina said she had exchanged views with leaders and activists from 83 district AL units as well as 160 constituencies to assess the situation on the ground and get a sense of the organisational condition of the party.

She also painted a picture of impending doom for the country, saying the situation was declining in every sector and calling for AL to “rescue” it, according to the party statement.

Hasina instructed party leaders responsible for organisational affairs to give priority to those who had faced persecution when filling organisational vacancies. She also called for collecting and disseminating information about people who had allegedly faced oppression and persecution over the past two years, and also to expose those responsible.

Hasina demanded the release of military and civil officials whom she described as having been arrested on false charges. Showing no intention of expressing any remorse, she referred to the violence during July and August 2024 and said law-enforcement personnel had made efforts to protect lives and property and alleged that many police officers were killed, their bodies burned, and police stations looted and set on fire.

Her statement was indicative of her scorched earth view, with little room for reconciliation or making room for new actors on the political stage.

She also said she wanted to return to Bangladesh and “save the country from this dire situation”, but alleged that the government in Dhaka was creating obstacles to her return.