The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has closed all ways of reaching a consensus by saying that the national elections would be held within January 24 without dissolving the current Parliament and the Cabinet. “Premier Sheikh Hasina’s decision on the upcoming general elections is totally disappointing. All ways of reaching a consensus have already been blocked by her decision on Monday,” said BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Alamgir made the remarks at a press briefing after a secretary-level meeting of the 18-Party Alliance, held at the party’s Naya Paltan central office, on Tuesday.
Alamgir said the people’s hearts are pounding with severe excitement, and this will increase ahead of the upcoming general elections because of the government’s hardened stance on the non-party caretaker government (CG) issue.
Premier Sheikh Hasina stated during a meeting of secretaries on Monday that the general elections would be held by January 24, without dissolving the current Parliament and the Cabinet.
Rejecting the Premier’s announcement, Alamgir said the ruling Awami League (AL) wants to cling on to power by hatching a conspiracy and this has been exposed by AL president Sheikh Hasina.
“I want to tell the government that the BNP-led 18-Party Alliance would never accept such a decision. The next general elections must be held under the CG supervision,” he said.
The opposition spokesperson accused the government of playing a hide-and-a-seek game with the people over the next parliamentary polls.
“There is no instance in the world where an election has been held without dissolving the House. We, the people of the country, want to hold the national polls under a CG management anyhow,” he added.
The government wants to hold unilateral elections to re-establish its earlier one-party BKSAL rule in the country, he alleged.
“We will announce a more intensive agitation campaign to force the government to fulfill the opposition’s demand for arranging the elections under a non-party administration,” he warned.
Asked about the strategy of the opposition’s anti-government movement, he said they will disclose this at an appropriate juncture through the media.
Alamgir also criticised the Cabinet’s recent approval to a proposed amendment to the electoral code of conduct, which bars convicted war criminals from casting their votes in any election.
“It is a completely illegal and inhuman move as the appeals against the verdict in the war crimes trial are still pending at the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court,” he said.
“We demand that the Cabinet’s decision be halted until the Appellate Division passes orders in this regard,” he added.
Alamgir also assailed the government for arresting Mufti Mohammad Wakkas, a Hefajat-e-Islam Bangladesh leader, and claimed that the religious leader was arrested in accordance with the government’s directions.
The Detective Branch of police picked up Wakkas from Malibagh in the capital on Monday. “The cases were lodged against him (Wakkas) are politically motivated. We condemn this and demand his immediate release,”
he said.
Responding to a query, Alamgir said the government has designs to hold the next general elections under its own management, but the people of the country will never allow this.
-With The Independent input
