Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is pushing Bangladesh towards darkness by insisting on holding the forthcoming national election under the present government, the BNP has alleged.
Party’s spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir reiterated the opposition’s refusal to take part in the polls without a caretaker body overseeing it.
“Bangladesh is passing through a dark stage. The Prime Minister has said the incumbent government will hold office until Oct 24. The next national election will be held under this government,” he said at a discussion in Dhaka on Tuesday.
“But making such an announcement, she (Hasina) is pushing the country towards darkness and uncertainty,” Fakhrul said.
He said the opposition would not take part in polls held under the present government.
“The people will not allow any election unless there is a caretaker government,” the BNP Acting Secretary General said at a discussion marking the sixth anniversary of party Senior Vice Chairman Tarique Rahman’s release from jail.
With over a dozen cases pending against him, BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s elder son Tarique, is currently staying in London.
A book titled ‘Bangladesher Ohongkar Tarique Rahman’ (Bangladesh’s Pride Tarique Rahman) was launched at the beginning of the programme.
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister, Fakhrul said, “She, who is the daughter of Bangladesh’s undisputed leader and adorably called the ‘Defender of Democracy’ by her supporters, has pushed the country towards uncertainty by announcing polls under her government.”
He said the ruling coalition was unnerved by the defeat of its candidates’ in the previous five city corporation polls and by intelligence reports. Fakhrul said the government wanted to hold national polls under it to cling on to power.
The 18-Party alliance, which the BNP leads, has been holding street protests ever since the government scrapped the caretaker government provision through the 15th constitutional amendment. It claims polls under a partisan body will not be ‘free and fair’, a claim the incumbent government denies fervently.
Source: Bd news24
