‘No place for Awami League in Bangladesh’: Samantha Sharmin after alleged threat

Former National Citizen Party (NCP) leader Samantha Sharmin has alleged that a man claiming to be a Bangladesh Chhatra League activist from Barguna threatened her over the phone on Saturday.

In a Facebook post, Sharmin said a man named Sabuj Khan called her at 12:27pm, hurled abusive language at her and threatened her.

“He threatened to ‘Joy Bangla’ me within a few days,” she wrote.

The phrase “Joy Bangla” in this context is often used as a threat of physical assault or killing.

She said the caller identified himself as a Chhatra League activist from Barguna district but refused to disclose his position in the organisation.

“The Awami League will have no place in this Bangladesh,” Sharmin wrote.

Sharmin served as the spokesperson of the National Citizen Committee, a platform formed by young leaders of the July 2024 mass uprising that led to the fall of the Awami League government.

She later joined the NCP but publicly criticised its decision to form an electoral alliance with Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. She subsequently left the party.

Since the uprising, several individuals who played prominent roles in the movement have reported threats and intimidation allegedly from Awami League activists and supporters.