Fakhrul wants crisis resolved before poll-schedule announced
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Friday threatened to paralyse the country through a tough movement if the schedule for the 10th parliamentary polls is announced without any resolution to the stand-off over the non-party poll-time government issue. “We came to know that the Election Commission (EC) will announce the polls schedule this week. As soon as the EC does so, we will paralyse the country. The impasse over the CG issue must be resolved first,” BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan here.
As part of the agitation, the BNP-led 18-party alliance will stage demonstrations at divisional, district and upzila headquarters on Sunday. The agitators will also demand immediate and unconditional release of their imprisoned leaders, including Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar and Rafiqul Islam Mia.
The BNP leader accused the EC of being partisan towards the ruling Awami League (AL) by incorporating controversial clauses in the electoral code of conduct, ahead of the next national polls. He alleged that the country’s sovereignty and democracy will be destroyed if the AL comes to power again.
“There is no alternative for us but to wage a tough movement against the autocratic and killer AL. BNP leaders and activists will have to forget intra-party feuds and unite under Khaleda Zia’s leadership to make the anti-government programme a success,” he added.
Fakhrul also exhorted the residents of Dhaka to create resistance against the ruling party for trying to hold a ‘lopsided’ national election. “You also have to enforce a movement against this repressive government. Please wake up and say goodbye to the ruling Awami League,” he said.
The BNP leader accused the prime minister of acting dishonourably by forming a “so called all-party poll-time cabinet without paying any heed to the people’s demand for CG restoration”. He termed the newly formed poll-time cabinet as illegal, and said its members have no moral right to conduct the next general election.
“The government has indulged in all out corruption during the five years of its rule. The government also repressed opposition leaders and activists just like it did during its previous one-party rule. Apart from this, it has formed a poll-time cabinet to hold a unilateral poll, intending to hang on to power through illegal means,” he alleged. “After closing all doors of a consensus over the poll-time administration, the PM is claiming that scopes for talks still exist. This is just a mockery,” he added.
BNP vice-chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka warned that the government would not be able to daunt the opposition’s ongoing movement over CG issue even if all senior party leaders were arrested.
BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas claimed that the countrymen too wanted a non-party CG to hold the next general election. “Along with the nationalist party men, the people also won’t participate in the election if it is held under the so called all-party poll-time administration,” he said.
BNP leaders Abdul Moeen Khan, Shamsuzzaman Dudu, JAGPA president Shafiul Alam Prodhan, Liberal Democratic Party leader Redwan Ahmed and others spoke at the rally. It was chaired by Sadeque Hossain Khoka, convenor of BNP’s Dhaka city unit.
-With The Independent input
