Published : 09 Sep 2026, 03:06 AM
Updated : 16 Sep 2026, 11:48 AM
With Sheikh Hasina away, her apparent choice of Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim to preside over the Awami League has stirred frustration and anger among a section of the party’s senior leaders.
Several senior Awami League leaders staying in India made their displeasure known at a meeting Monday night, according to multiple sources who were in attendance.
The meeting was held at the New Town residence of Sheikh Helal Uddin, Hasina’s cousin and a former MP.
Presidium member Jahangir Kabir Nanak, former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, Joint General Secretary AFM Bahauddin Nasim, Organising Secretary Mirza Azam, and former Bangladesh Chhatra League president and former MP Mahmudul Hasan Ripon were among those present.
The anger among this group began after Hasina told Amal Sarkar, executive editor of Indian news outlet The Wall, in a telephone interview that Selim would be brought into charge of the party in her absence.
In a report published by The Wall, Hasina was quoted as saying: “Now Sheikh Selim is the senior-most Presidium member. In my absence, he will perform the duties of president.”
An Awami League leader present at Monday night’s meeting told bdnews24.com that a central leader raised his discomfort over the party president’s decision before Helal.
Others then separately expressed their anger over Selim’s long absence from the party’s organisational activities as well as his behaviour towards party leaders and activists.
One of them then told everyone, “Organisationally, he (Selim) has ruined the Awami League. Controversial people have entered different levels of the party because of him. No one has ever seen him treat leaders and activists well. In the last 15 years, he could not be found for any party work without lobbying.”
The leader told Sheikh Helal, “Brother Selim has never maintained any relationship with the party, so why should he be given the responsibility of president? Even if we accept it, no one else will. We hope you can explain the matter properly to [Hasina]. We hope you will now speak to [Hasina] about this. Is there no one else besides [Selim]?”
Another leader told bdnews24.com that the gathering at Helal’s residence that night was mainly a meeting to highlight Presidium member Nanak as “particularly important”.
The leader said, “There is no question about who is currently the senior leader in the party, Brother Selim. But organisationally, activists have not seen him. Brother Nanak has been serving this party from Chhatra League onwards. That is what we wanted to convey to her, so that the leader gives the matter importance.”
A source present at the meeting said Helal assured them that he would convey everyone’s views to Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and try to find a solution.
Selim is Hasina’s first cousin on her father’s side. His mother, Sheikh Asia Begum, was the sister of Hasina’s father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Helal is the son of Bangabandhu’s brother Sheikh Abu Naser. He is therefore Hasina’s first cousin.
Selim’s elder son Sheikh Fazle Fahim is married to Nancy Zahara, daughter of businessman Musa Bin Shamsher.
Nancy’s brother Bobby Hajjaj is currently the BNP government’s state minister for primary and mass education.
Selim’s younger son, Barrister Sheikh Fazle Nayem, is married to Sarah Hasan Mahmood, daughter of BNP leader and Power Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku.
Because of these family ties, there is also suspicion and distrust of Selim among a section of the Awami League.
Sheikh Helal’s daughter, meanwhile, is married to BNP leader Andaleeve Rahman Partho, who is now the government’s information minister.
However, another section of the Awami League is happy at the indication that Selim will become president in Hasina’s absence. They are known in the party as Selim’s loyalists.
They include Selim’s two nephews Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash and Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh; Hasina’s other cousin Abul Hasanat Abdullah; Selim’s brother-in-law Omar Faruk Chowdhury; and Hasina’s cousins’ sons Nur-E-Alam Chowdhury Liton and Mujibur Rahman Chowdhury Nixon.
Awami League Organising Secretary SM Kamal Hossain declined to comment on the selection of Hasina’s successor or divisions among relatives of the Sheikh family.
He said the Awami League constitution says that, in the president’s absence, the senior-most Presidium member should preside. That, he said, was what Hasina told The Wall.
“You look at the committee, Sheikh Selim is the senior-most member of the Presidium there,” Kamal said.
At the Awami League’s 22nd National Council on Dec 24, 2022, Hasina was elected president of the 81-member committee for the 10th consecutive time.
Obaidul Quader was elected general secretary for a third term.
The two senior-most members of the Presidium at the time, Engineer Mosharraf Hossain and Begum Matia Chowdhury, have since died.
Next are Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Kazi Zafarullah, Pijush Kanti Bhattacharjee, Mohammad Abdur Razzaque, Muhammad Faruk Khan, Shajahan Khan, Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya, Kamrul Islam, Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Abdur Rahman, Jebunnesa Haque, AHM Khairuzzaman Liton and Simin Hossain Rimi.
Among them, Kazi Zafarullah, Faruk Khan and Shajahan Khan are in jail. Along with Sheikh Selim, Maya and Nanak are in India. Abdur Rahman is in the UK.
Sheikh Hasina has been in India since losing power on Aug 5, 2024. The International Crimes Tribunal sentenced her to death in absentia over crimes against humanity.
Hasina, who has called the trial a “farce”, has said she wants to return home in December. She has also told The Wall that she is concerned about her own safety if she returns.
