The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP’s) acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the election deposits of candidates nominated by the Awami League (AL) in the upcoming general elections would be forfeited if they are held under the oversight of a non-party caretaker government (CG). “The Awami League has totally failed to implement its election pledges. That is why it wants to hold the next general polls under a party management. Election deposits of all its candidates would be forfeited if they participate in the polls under a CG system,” he claimed.
He was addressing a workers’ conference at Hatluxiganj in Munshiganj district on Fridayafternoon to garner the support of the people in favour of the party’s demand for restoration of CG.
The opposition spokesperson has again warned that his party, along with the people of the country, will organise an intensive movement to force the government to hold the next general elections under the management of a non-party election-time government.
Alamgir has accused the government of staging a farcical trial over crimes against humanity committed during the Liberation War in 1971. “We want the trial, but it should be held in a fair and impartial manner and uphold international standards in this regard,” he added.
The ruling Awami League is hatching a conspiracy to ban a political party undemocratically in the name of justice. The people will decide whether Jamaat-e-Islami will remain active as a political party in the country, he added.
“It is the Awami League which released real war criminals through general amnesty, not the BNP,” he claimed.
Referring to the various militant attacks, including Udichi, he said the BNP does not believe in politics of extremism. The Ramna Batamul tragedy also took place during the previous tenure of the Awami League, he pointed out. “Who were responsible for these bloody attacks?” Alamgir asked the government.
He claimed that the government was harassing BNP senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman and his younger brother Arafat Rahman Koko, trying to implicate them on the basis of fake and motivated charges.
The government is spreading propaganda against the family members of the party’s founder, late president Ziaur Rahman. But its attempts will go in vain when faced with a movement, he said.
Alamgir alleged that the Awami League wants to establish one-party rule in the garb of democracy. It is also using the judiciary and the Parliament to further its petty political interests, he claimed, adding that it would not be democracy at all.
The ruling party has come to know that the people have already withdrawn their trust in the government, he claimed. So the government is hatching a plan to hang on to power through illegal means, he alleged.
Terming the Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh a non-political organisation, Alamgir claimed that they raised their voices against those who dishonoured Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (SM), but the government deliberately massacred them.
“The Awami League does not believe in religious norms and values. It has smashed the dignity of Islam by annulling Bishmillah from the preamble of the Constitution,” he alleged.
The people have rejected the Awami League through the recently held five city corporation elections. Apprehending an electoral debacle, it is determined to hold the next general polls under its own management, he claimed.
BNP leaders Shah Motzzem Hossain, Mizanur Rahman Sinha, Fazlul Haque Milon, Asaduzzaman Ripon and others spoke at the programme. Abdul Hai, president of the district unit of the BNP, was in the chair.
-With The Independent input
