Main opposition BNP has criticised the government for picking up Jatiya Party (JP) chairman HM Ershad and said the JP Chief has suffered the consequence for not participating in the stage managed 10th parliamentary poll to fulfil the will of the Awami League. Demanding Ershad’s immediate release, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in written statement on Friday said, “We, the people of the country, are a bit worried after hearing the news of arrest of Ershad Baridhara residence on Thursday midnight.”
In the statement, sent to the media, Alamgir termed the government efforts to hold the next general election under a party management as farcical saying the country’s democracy has been put at stake.
The government picked up Ershad to meet its evil desire to hold the next general election under a poll-time party management, Alamgir said adding that there is no practice of democracy in the country and that has been proved through the arrest.
Meanwhile, BNP standing committee member Mahbubur Rahman at a discussion meeting on Friday reiterated the need for dialogue between the country’s two major political parties to end the prevailing political crisis.
Rahman said the United Nations (UN) Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez Taranco has introduced the process of dialogue that has to be continued by the politicians in the greater national interest. Seeking the government’s positive gesture for making the dialogue a success, Rahman said the country and its democracy are passing through a tough time. Immediate initiative is needed to overcome the situation, he added.
He was addressing a discussion meeting, organised by Jatiyatabadi Sangkritik Foundation, to mark the Martyred Intellectual Day and in remembrance of Nelson Mandela at the National Press Club on Friday.
-With The Independent input
