Bangladesh students who deposed PM Hasina form party to fight elections

Nahid Islam, left, talks to Asif Mahmud, both student protest leaders who joined Bangladesh's interim government after the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Islam has now resigned from the government to launch a new student-led political party [Rajib Dhar/AP Photo]

Dhaka, Bangladesh – Bangladeshi students who led last year’s mass protests to depose Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have launched a political party before parliamentary elections expected to be held within the next year.

Addressing a rally on Manik Mia Avenue adjacent to the parliament building in the capital on Friday, leaders of the new National Citizens Party (NCP) insisted that they would pursue the politics of national unity over division, transparency and good governance over corruption, and an independent foreign policy to build a “second republic.”