The BNP-led 18-party alliance is planning to lay a siege on the Election Commission (EC) offices across the country immediately after announcement of election schedule for the 10th parliamentary poll, party insiders said. “Programmes like enforcement of non-stop hartal, non-cooperation movement and siege of EC offices have already been devised. Our party chief Khaleda Zia was entrusted with all sorts of responsibilities to enforce any kind of anti-government campaign anytime,” BNP policymaker Mahbubur Rahman said.
Rahman, also a standing committee member of the party, said that a non-stop hartal may be announced immediately after announcement of the schedule for the 10th national poll.
However, another senior leader of the party said all the EC offices across the country, including its secretariat, will be blocked if the poll schedule is announced without ending the prevailing political crisis over the non-party poll-time management. “We are not going for a harsher programme right now as more 45 days are left for the next general election. We want to give the government a chance to reach a consensus,” he added.
“Our anti-government movement will get momentum gradually. At one stage, the ruling Awami League will be forced to reform its all-party poll-time cabinet as well as the Constitution in the face of a mass upsurge,” warned the BNP joint secretary general, Salauddin Ahmed, who has also been assigned for waging movement in Shyampur, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Kadamtali and Demra.
Election Commission sources said the Chief Election Commission (CEC) would announce the schedule for the 10th parliamentary poll on Monday and then the CEC would also seek all out cooperation from all quarters so that the poll could be held in a peaceful and an impartial manner.
Responding to a query about the EC’s move, Mahbubur Rahman, also a former chief of Army Staff, said if the schedule for the 10th parliamentary poll is announced amid unresolved situation over the poll-time administration, it would be more harmful for the country as well as for its people.
“I would like to request the CEC to refrain from announcing the poll schedule as the nation is still staring at a national consensus that can be reached anytime in the wake of the latest political situation,” he said. When asked about talk between Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Rahman said, “I don’t want to make any comment in this regard. But I can say that a dialogue could take place between them anytime in the greater interest of holding a participatory and inclusive general poll.”
Besides, in a bid to boost the anti-government campaign ahead of the declaration of the poll schedule, Dhaka city has been divided into eight organising zones to be overseen by one senior leader each.
The leaders and their respective areas are Goyeshwar Chandra Roy for Mohammadpur, Shyamoli, Adabor and Dhanmondi; Nazrul Islam Khan for Tejgaon and Banani; Mirza Abbas for Motijheel, Khilgaon and Sabujbagh; Khoka for Sutrapur, Bangshal and Wari; ASM Hannan Shah for Gulshan, Cantonment and Kafrul; Salauddin Ahmed for Shyampur, Sutrapur, Jatrabari, Kadamtali and Demra; Barkatullah Bulu for Mirpur; and Amanullah Aman for Lalbagh, Hazaribagh and Nawabganj.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has expressed annoyance over the failure of senior party leaders to ensure momentum to the anti-government movement, the sources said. She has excluded a section of such leaders from the movement’s organising committee, the sources added.
To ensure success of the anti-government agitation, BNP has formed “All-party Sangram Committees” in its 74 organising districts as well as poll centres to resist election under an all-party interim cabinet, BNP joint secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told The Independent.
“All out movement will be spread across the country rapidly through proper channels if the EC announces schedule of the next general election. And the government will be forced to meet the opposition’s demand for election under a non-party poll-time administration,” Rizvi added.
Courtesy of The Independent
