Awami League

Awami League political organization in Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was founded in 1949 as an opposition party in Pakistan and had a moderately socialist ideology. The Awami [people's] League, with cofounder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as its leader from 1953, called in 1966 for a federation of East and West Pakistan, an arrangement that would have given much greater autonomy to East Pakistan. The party's candidates won a majority in the 1970 elections, but the central government in West Pakistan banned the League after war between East and West Pakistan erupted in early 1971. When Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) won its independence in late 1971, the party was the nation's dominant political force. In 1981 and again in 1991 it was defeated in a popular election by the Bangladesh National party (BNP), but the League won the 1996 parliamentary elections, and party leader Hasina Wazed, the daughter of Mujibur Rahman, became prime minister. The League lost the 2001 elections to the BNP in a landslide.

Awami (‘People's’) League A political party in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) founded in 1949 by Husain Shahid Suhrawardy. Originally a consciously Muslim party, this was soon changed to enable non-Muslims to join, in an effort to heal the religious divisions bedevilling the country. Though relatively unsuccessful in West Pakistan, it became the dominant party in East Pakistan, where it defeated the Muslim League in the 1954 elections. In 1957 it was weakened by the defection of Maulana Abdul Hamid Bhashani, who founded the National Awami Party. Nevertheless, under the leadership of Mujibur Rahman since Suhrawardy's death in 1963, it won the 1970 elections with an overwhelming victory. As the main instigator of Bangladeshi independence, it dominated politics until the 1975 coup. Suffering subsequent intermittent bans, the party nevertheless continued as the main opposition party (largely to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP), under its leader, Sheikh Hasina Wajid, the daughter of Mujibur Rahman. The Awami League won the 1996 elections, and, with Sheikh Hasina Wajid as Prime Minister, it improved relations with India and introduced a number of austerity measures demanded by the World Bank. These measures met bitter popular protest organized by the BNP, and even before the 2001 elections the government was practically unable to govern. It suffered a devastating election defeat in the 2001 general elections.

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