Dhaka: Bangladesh interim government’s Information Advisor Mahfuj Alam on Tuesday claimed that more than one lakh members of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League have fled to India, according to media reports.

Alam made the remark during an Eid gathering in Dhaka attended by families of individuals allegedly disappeared or killed during Hasina’s tenure, Bangladeshi news portal bdnews24.com said.

Human rights group “Mayer Dak” organised the event in the city’s Tejgaon area, said a press release.

Criticising Hasina, Mahfuj said she used enforced disappearances and killings as a means of avenging her parents’ assassination, state-run news agency BSS reported.

“The highest number of enforced disappearances occurred in 2013 and 2014 when people were fighting for their voting rights. The main objective behind these actions was to destroy the electoral system,” he said.

The adviser said that the government has already formed a commission to investigate into enforced disappearances.

“Based on the commission’s recommendations, arrest warrants have been issued against several individuals involved in enforced disappearances. Additionally, investigations against many others are still ongoing,” Alam said.

Coming down heavily on the previous government, he stated that those who opposed the Awami League politically were labelled as terrorists and militants before being forcibly disappeared.

Their families were also subjected to fear and intimidation, the adviser said, adding, various state institutions were used to carry out such disappearances.

The adviser claimed Hasina is still hatching conspiracies against the country staying in India, which is very unfortunate.

He accused the Awami League of operating as a “mafia group” and vowed that the party would never be allowed to regain political footing in Bangladesh.

“It is unfortunate that India has chosen to shelter her and her terrorist forces. We have learnt that nearly 100,000 Awami League members have taken refuge there,” he was quoted as saying.

Hasina’s 16-year-long Awami League regime was toppled on August 5 last year in a student-led violent mass uprising. Since then, 77-year-old Hasina has been living in India after secretly leaving Bangladesh.

She has been facing over 100 cases, including that of mass murder and corruption, since her ouster.

Most of her party leaders and ministers in her government were arrested or fled abroad to evade trial on charges like crimes against humanity or mass murders.

After her ouster, Muhammad Yunus took charge as the Chief Adviser of the interim government. Hasina’s Awami League is absent from Bangladesh’s political domain.

Alam, one of the leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement, was a key figure in the July protests that ultimately led to the dramatic fall of Hasina.

Hasina and several of her senior ministers and political aides have been indicted by Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal for committing crimes against humanity during the Students Against Discrimination-led protest.

The tribunal was originally instituted during the past regime to try collaborators of Pakistani military actions to carry on genocide during Bangladesh’s 1971 Liberation War.