No room for 'reformists'

The Awami League yesterday announced the names of 26 members and the information and research secretary for its central working committee shunning the so-called reformist leaders of the party.
Fourteen of the 26 are new to the central working committee, making it apparent that party President Sheikh Hasina, designated by the July 24 Awami League national council to select 71 members of the 73-member committee, has questionable faith in seasoned leaders.
Afzal Hossain was made information and research affairs secretary to the committee.
The Awami League Central Working Committee has 26 executive members and 47 officer bearer posts, including the party president, general secretary, 13 presidium members, three joint general secretaries and seven organising secretaries.
The Awami League on July 30 announced the names for 43 posts in the committee, excluding veterans Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzaq, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta who were presidium members.
On July 24 the Awami League national council re-elected Hasina as president and Syed Ashraful Islam as general secretary.
"Awami League President Sheikh Hasina appointed the executive members in consultation with the presidium members as per the party constitution," said General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam in a press release yesterday.
The 26 executive members are: Mohammad Nasim, Abul Hasnat Abdullah, Altaf Hossain of Magura, Matiur Rahman of Mymensingh, Eng Mosharraf Hossain of Chittagong, Sheikh Harun-or-Rashid of Khulna, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, AKM Rahmatullah, Syeda Zebunnisa of Sylhet, Monnujan Sufian, Khairuzzaman Liton, Fazle Rabbi, Bipul Ghosh, Abdur Rahman, Akhtaruzzaman, Bir Bahadur, Tipu Munshi of Rangpur, Mostafa Faruk of Jessore, MA Mannan of Sunamganj, Mujibur Rahman Maznu of Bogra, Mirza Azam, Momtaz Uddin Mehedi, Akhtar Zahan of Rajshahi, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, Sujit Roy Nandi and Aminul Islam Amin.
Among them Abdur Rahman, Akhtaruzzaman and Bir Bahadur were demoted to member status. They were organising secretaries in the previous committee.
Since the Awami League is yet to announce the name of one remaining joint general secretary, the central working committee now has 72 members.
Once high-profile Awami League leaders Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Abdul Mannan, Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed, Mukul Bose, Abu Sayeed and KM Jahangir, among other mid-ranking party leaders, are no longer part of the central working committee.
Sources in the party said these leaders' inclusion in the committee was rejected as they, like Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzaq, Tofail Ahmed and Suranjit Sengupta, had spoken about reforms when the party chief was detained during the last caretaker government's rule.