Over 1,500 aspirants for 147 vacant Juba League posts are lobbying with ruling Awami League and JL high ups for inclusion of their names in the draft of the full-committee.

The Juba League, youth front of the Awami League, will submit the draft to AL president Sheikh Hasina this week for approval.

Deadline for submitting the draft was extended by 7 days after the JL missed the September 15 deadline.

The move to announce the full-fledged JL committee was taken as per an AL decision to resume political activities gradually amid the COVID-19 crises.

On November 23, 2019, Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and Mainul Hossain Khan Nikhil were made JL chairman and general secretary respectively for a three-year term at its seventh congress.

AL leaders said that amid the aspirants’ lobbying, the party was ‘highly cautious’ over the JL committee as many of its leaders, including chairman Omar Faruk  Chowdhury of the previous committee, had been fired from party positions for their involvement in and link to illegal activities, including operation of casinos.

They said that the AL high command was also cautious over approval of its committees of district units, associate bodies and sub-committees to check possible entry of ‘opportunists’ and people involved in ‘anti-liberation forces’.

Involvements of several leaders of different committees of AL and its associate bodies like the JL, the Shecchasebok League, the Chhatra League and the Juba Mohila League in illegal activities and crimes in recent months prompted the party to maintain such cautiousness, said the party insiders.

Several members of the AL presidium board told New Age that in a meeting of the board on September 16 its president Sheikh Hasina asked her fellows to maintain highest cautiousness while recommending names for posts in the AL central sub-committees, district committees and its associate bodies.

They said that Hasina, also prime minister, asked them to check political background of each of the aspirants as she would ‘never’ allow any people involved in ‘anti-liberation forces’ and other unethical activities.

On Saturday, addressing a review meeting on progress of the Western Bangladesh Bridge Improvement Project through a videoconference from his official residence, AL general secretary Obaidul Quader said that draft committees which had already been submitted by most of the associate bodies for approval would be approved slowly as the committees would be scrutinised cautiously.

He said that time-tested leaders and workers of the party must be evaluated at all levels so that they were not dropped from the committees by any means.

He said that the committees would be free form nepotism.

According to the party leaders, all associate bodies but the Juba League submitted their proposed committees with the AL president by September 15.

Most of the AL sub-committees also submitted names by this time.

The presidium board meeting on September 16 asked all concerned to submit drafts of their committees by seven days.

About the AL preparation for announcing full-fledged committees of the bodies, its adviser and former diplomat Muhammad Zamir said that AL president Sheikh Hasina and GS Obaidul Quader were caution enough and it was important that other leadership became cautious to make the committees flawless.

He urged the leaders involved in the process to include people in the committees who would uphold the spirit of the country’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as the nation was celebrating ‘Mujib Year’ marking the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujib.

He said that the AL leadership should keep it in their minds that ‘one drop of ink destroys the whole bowl of milk.’