The BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance has renewed its call to government employees and officials not to abide by the government’s directives to hold a lopsided parliamentary poll under a partisan administration.
“The Awami League is moving towards holding a one-sided stage-managed poll under its own management. The staff and officials of the government and the Election Commission should refrain from carrying out any directive given to hold a lopsided poll,” opposition spokesperson Salauddin Ahmed said.
Salauddin, also joint secretary general of the BNP, made the call through a video message sent to media outlets on the first day of the third spell of the countrywide 72-hour blockade on Saturday.
The government staff and officials should not be used to fulfil one’s evil design, he said, calling upon them to discharge impartial duties in the greater interest of the country’s peace and progress.
Salauddin said the international community has made its position clear that it would refrain from sending election observers to Bangladesh to oversee the general election if it is held unilaterally.
Apart from this, a group of teachers, who play an important role in conducting polls smoothly, have expressed their unwillingness to take part in election activities. Despite this, the government is going ahead with its mission sensing its debacle in the election, he said.
In the video message, he said: “I came to know that at least 33 ministers, including state ministers, are going to be elected without any vote, while the government has ensured that in at least 103 seats candidates can be elected as independent.”
In 1975, the Awami League’s founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, extended the tenure of Parliament by amending the Constitution and introduced one-party BKSAL rule, he said. Sheikh Hasina can do the same, Salauddin added.
Later, in a separate press statement, the BNP leader called upon the party’s rank and file to take to the streets across the country to force the government to meet the Opposition’s demand.
He criticised the government for resorting to violence in which at least 217 were injured. Of them, 103 sustained bullets injuries in sporadic clashes with law enforcers and ruling party men at different places in the country on Saturday. Law enforcers arrested 326 blockaders and filed several cases implicating 1,200 18-party alliance leaders and activists on trumped up charges, he claimed.
Claiming that the Opposition’s movement was successful, he said leaders and activists of the 18-party alliance are continuing the agitation ignoring the crackdown on them. Reminding the government that time is running out, he said victory of the people is “very near” as the movement has gained momentum.
“We will go for a more intense movement if our detained leaders and activists are not released and cases against them are not withdrawn,” he cautioned.
-With The Independent input
