Ruling Awami League leaders on Friday ruled out a compromise with the Opposition BNP on a caretaker government (GG) to oversee the next general election. “The CG system is a dead issue and there is no need for compromise on the matter. It will not return in Bangladesh even for an hour. The poll will be held as per the country’s Constitution,” said Qamrul Islam, state minister for law, justice and parliamentary affairs.
The Awami League leader was addressing a discussion on “The next general election and the conspiracy of BNP-Jamaat” organised by the Bangabandhu Academy at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in the city. The minister said the Opposition’s threat of a movement for restoration of a CG would not work. He also alleged that the BNP was a party of anti-Liberation elements. “The BNP was issuing warnings to wage a strong movement in a bid to create anarchy as per instructions by Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI),” he said.
Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif echoed the view that the poll will be held as per the Constitution. Hanif said: “The CG system is undemocratic. There is no other country where such a system is followed to hold a general election. Then why should we follow it?”
He also rejected the Opposition’s demand for amending the Constitution to incorporate the CG clause. “The Constitution will not be amended because of threats. The country will run as per the Constitution,” he added.
Expressing optimism that the BNP would participate in the next general election, he alleged that the party’s warning of a movement was an evil strategy to save its leaders Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman Koko from corruption cases.
Hanif, also a special assistant to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said this while talking to reporters at Daulatpur Upazilla, Kustia, after visiting a river erosion site there.
At another meeting, AL advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta said the Election Commission will hold the next general election in line with the Constitution in a free, fair
and credible manner.
“The AL believes in democracy and the continuation of the constitutional process.
So, we will not amend the Constitution at anybody’s whims and fancies,” he said while addressing a discussion at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the city.
The AL leader said: “The ball is now in the BNP’s court. Now, the Opposition party should decide whether they will participate in the next polls or create anarchy in the name of movement.”
Suranjit added that the people will decide who will get the mandate to run the country in the next general election.
He criticised BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakrul Islam Alamgir’s recent comments that the AL would find no way to escape and said: “It was not a political speech.”
-With The Independent input
