Wednesday, 05 November 2025, 02:33 AM
October 29, 2025
Millions of supporters of Bangladesh’s Awami League will boycott next year’s national election, after the party was barred from contesting the polls, ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told Reuters on Wednesday from her exile in New Delhi.
Hasina, 78, said she would not return to Bangladesh under any government formed after elections that exclude her party, and plans to remain in India, where she fled in August 2024 following a deadly student-led uprising.
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An interim government headed by Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus has governed Bangladesh since Hasina’s ouster and has pledged to hold elections next February.
“The ban on the Awami League is not only unjust, it is self-defeating,” Hasina said in emailed responses to Reuters — her first media engagement since her dramatic fall from power after 15 straight years at the helm of Bangladeshi politics.
“The next government must have electoral legitimacy. Millions of people support the Awami League, so as things stand, they will not vote. You cannot disenfranchise millions of people if you want a political system that works.”
EX-LEADER HOPES AWAMI LEAGUE WILL BE ALLOWED TO CONTEST
Bangladesh has over 126 million registered voters. The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have long dominated the country’s politics, and the BNP is widely expected to win the upcoming vote.
The Election Commission suspended the Awami League’s registration in May. Earlier, the Yunus-led government banned all party activities, citing national security threats and war crimes investigations into senior Awami League leaders.
“We are not asking Awami League voters to support other parties,” Hasina said. “We still hope common sense will prevail and we will be allowed to contest the election ourselves.”
She did not say if she or anyone else on her behalf was holding any back-channel talks with Bangladeshi...
October 22, 2025
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus today said Bangladesh has made history by advancing workers' legal rights, as the interim government ratified three conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Bangladesh today ratified three ILO conventions to improve worker safety, health, and protection against workplace violence and harassment.
Recalling the 2013 Rana Plaza disaster, the chief adviser said, "After the Rana Plaza tragedy, the then government agreed to do everything. But nothing happened as per their commitment. They kept saying 'it is being done, it will be done'. But we said 'no more it is being done, it will be done' -- we must do it."
The CA's press wing issued a press release after the ILO Convention signing ceremony was held at the State Guest House Jamuna.
"Since I took office as the chief adviser, labour rights were my first priority. I held meetings time and again and kept saying everywhere that this must be done. Signing this will benefit all of us," he said.
"I was told I had to go to the next Geneva meeting. I tried to understand why no one had attended the past meetings," Yunus added.
Labour and Employment as well as Shipping Adviser Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain signed the instruments of ratification on behalf of the government in presence of the chief adviser.
The three ratified conventions are: Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155); Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No. 187); and Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190). Of these, Conventions 187 and 155 were declared as fundamental conventions by the ILO in 2022.
"We must keep our commitments. What the convention says, what rights it talks about, must be conveyed to everyone," the chief adviser said.
Terming the day as a memorable one in the history of labour rights in Bangladesh, he said, "From the tragedy of Rana Plaza to today's signing, we have reached a milestone."
"Our efforts will bear...
October 12, 2025
Bangladesh will begin its first-ever national typhoid vaccination campaign tomorrow, October 12, to protect children from typhoid fever. The month-long campaign aims to provide free injectable typhoid vaccines to around 50 million children aged between 9 months and under 15 years, according to a press release issued on Saturday (October 11) by Mahmudul Hasan, Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The campaign will be inaugurated on Sunday at Sir Salimullah Muslim Orphanage, Azimpur, under the title Typhoid Vaccination Campaign 2025. Health and Family Welfare Adviser Noorjahan Begum will attend as the chief guest, while Sharmin S. Murshid, Adviser to the Ministries of Social Welfare and Women and Children Affairs, will be present as a special guest.
The Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) announced that even children without birth certificates will be included in the campaign to ensure no one is left behind. This is the first-ever national typhoid vaccination program in the country. The vaccine has been produced by India’s Serum Institute and supplied to Bangladesh through the support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Professor Dr. Md. Sayedur Rahman, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser of the Interim Government (in charge of the State Minister for Health), stated that the vaccine is fully safe and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). It has already been successfully used in eight countries, including Nepal and Pakistan, with no major side effects reported.
According to the Health Ministry, students from pre-primary to class nine will receive the vaccine at schools and madrasas until October 30. After that, children aged 9 months to under 15 years will be vaccinated through door-to-door visits, while NGOs will cover street children in urban areas.
The government aims to vaccinate 49 million children under this campaign. So far, 16.8 million children have already registered, and the registration process is ongoing....
October 11, 2025
Renowned photographer and activist Shahidul Alam, who was released by Israeli authorities on Friday after joining a Free Palestine campaign, is expected to arrive in Dhaka at 4:55 am tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, Shahidul reached Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight around 2:30 pm local time. He was received by Bangladesh Consul General in Istanbul Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, said a statement issued by the chief adviser's press wing.
Bangladesh Ambassador to Turkey Md Amanur Rahman said Shahidul's return flight to Dhaka was scheduled to depart Istanbul at 6:45 pm local time on Friday.
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has expressed gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his cooperation in facilitating Shahidul Alam's release and safe repatriation from Israel.
Following Shahidul Alam's detention by Israeli authorities, Bangladesh embassies in Jordan, Egypt, and Turkey were instructed to engage with the respective foreign ministries and take immediate diplomatic measures to secure his release....
October 11, 2025
Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus today congratulated Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on winning the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
"I extend my hearty congratulations to María Corina Machado on receiving the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous fight for democracy in her beloved Venezuela," he said in a congratulatory message.
Machado has faced oppression with steadfast resolve, never wavering in her commitment to a freer and more just future for her country and her people, the message read.
As the Nobel Committee rightly stated: "Democracy depends on people who refuse to stay silent, who dare to step forward despite grave risk, and who remind us that freedom must never be taken for granted, but must always be defended — with words, with courage, and with determination."
She has dared to imagine a better world and worked tirelessly to make it so, the message added.
According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for promoting democratic rights in her country and for her struggle to achieve a transition to democracy....
July 10, 2020
Senior Awami League leader and former home minister Sahara Khatun has died at a Bangkok hospital at the age of 77.
The MP from Dhaka-18 breathed her last at 11:25pm BdST on Thursday, said her aide and relative Anisur Rahman, who was accompanying her there.
Party chief Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has mourned her longtime confidante Sahara.
President Md Abdul Hamid said in a condolence message that Bangladesh has lost a dedicated politician through the death of Sahara Khatun.
Sahara Khatun was admitted to a hospital in Dhaka on Jun 2 with a fever, allergy and other preexisting conditions and later moved to the intensive care unit when her condition deteriorated.
She was flown to Thailand and admitted to Bumrungrad Hospital last Monday.
A member of the Awami League's presidium, Sahara Khatun is a three-time MP from the Dhaka seat.
She was made the home minister in 2009 and later served as the post and telecommunication minister.
...
November 29, 2019
Awami League leader Obaidul Quader has warned the BNP that the government will take strong measures if their movement for the release of jailed party chief Khaleda Zia devolves into chaos and anarchy.
He issued the warning at the conference of the Awami Matsyajibi League on Friday in the wake of a recent clash between BNP activists and police near the Supreme Court.
Addressing the situation surrounding Khaleda, Quader said, "We have maintained that she is in jail as per the decree of the courts. They should fight for her release through the legal channels and the government will not intervene."
"But they don't believe in the rule of law or the justice system. They are trying to pressurise the courts by resorting to vandalism. They attacked the police and turned the court premises into a battlefield."
The road transport minister urged the BNP to adopt a peaceful and democratic movement which the government could then deal with through the political process.
But Quader warned that the authorities will clamp down on any attempt to create chaos and disorder. "There will be an appropriate response to anarchy in the name of a movement."
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