AL not banned yet, its activities suspended

"We have not banned Awami League yet. The activities of Awami League are banned temporarily. Whether they will be included in the elections or not is up to the Election Commission to decide," said Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus in an interview with BBC World Service.

He was speaking with Rajini Vaidyanathan for the BBC programme "The Interview".

"Recently the resident coordinator of the UN in Dhaka said that inclusiveness does not mean the participation of a particular party, it means the participation of all the people," said Prof Yunus.

He said that Bangladesh will use the international legal system to extradite Sheikh Hasina. "The trial of Sheikh Hasina has already begun -- the trial is active and going on. We do not have any power to grab her. We will use the international system."

Prof Yunus said that the government is not particularly nonplussed about Hasina being hosted in India, but it is her continued political activities that is an issue. 

"It is not about her being hosted in India -- that probably will not bother Bangladeshis very much. It is her voice which creates problems. She is always addressing people in Bangladesh using airwaves. That creates tensions and creates hatred against the political party [Awami League]," he added.

"We thought the sudden outburst of anger and killing ended on August 5 after she left. The chapter is closed; let's move on. But for AL it seems like it didn't end there. They want to continue. This creates a lot of tension within the country."

The chief adviser continued, "We do not want to look back on the horrible things they have done in terms of killing people, the disappearance of people, the massive amount of money they have taken away... one after another, the unbelievable cruelty of it. We thought we would deal with it gradually. But no, she reminds you that I am here, I will come back."

In response to a question by the host about whether India should do more to stop her, Prof Yunus replied, "You said it."

The chief adviser also addressed allegations of repression of opposition political voices and whether the interim government "is doing the same thing that the Awami League did". 

"It will be a shame to say that [the interim government is doing the same thing]. If you compare the interim government with the AL government, I do not think you understand Bangladesh. That is absolutely not correct," he responded.

He also addressed questions about violence against minorities.

"We invite journalists to come and identify the incidents of [such] violence... This is all fake news coming up one after another. Come and count them [the incidents], we are here," said Prof Yunus.

The BBC interviewed the chief adviser during his four-day trip to London earlier this month.