<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Attributing restoration of democracy to Awami League, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed recalled the dark times when the government was led by military rulers and fundamentalist forces that put democracy in the back seat for a long time.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A video posted yesterday from his verified Facebook page made the observation that Bangladesh had to undergo an agonizing wait for democracy over the years even after achieving independence through the Liberation War in 1971.&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 1975 assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman paved the way for Pakistani-style autocracy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The governments of Mostaq, Zia, and Ershad “followed the course of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan to destroy democracy and validate their own misrule,” said the video.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They paved the way for the return of Jamaat-e-Islami, which strongly opposed the independence of Bangladesh and with the Pakistan army committed crimes against humanity during the Liberation War, into the country's political landscape.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The video also highlighted the role of Awami League in advancing freedom and democracy since the party’s inception to this day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the fear of autocrats hushed all the political parties in 1958 and prompted them to refrain from political activities, it was Bangabandhu who carried forward the struggle for restoring democracy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following the 1981 homecoming of Sheikh Hasina, she was not allowed to enter her own residence as the country was then governed by a military dictator.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In February 1983, the then military ruler kept her under house arrest, a feat repeated in the coming years of 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, and 1990. On January 24, 1988, police fired bullets targeting Sheikh Hasina and her supporters in front of Chattogram Court Building, killing around 30 Awami League activists.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Contrasting Awami League's pro-democratic approach to BNP's politics, the video said that Khaleda Zia “demanded halting the trial of her son Tarique Rahman and sending him abroad; otherwise, she would refrain from taking part in the election.”&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Moreover, BNP and Jamaat carried out widespread subversive activities to threaten democracy in 2013 and 2014,” the video posted by Sajeeb Wazed said. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>