Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has said the US is making a mistake by pressuring Bangladesh on matters related to its internal politics and other issues.
And the BNP had stayed off the general election just because of its ‘rogue intellect’, said the veteran Awami League leader.
The minister was reacting only days after a senior US official said at a Senate hearing that the ‘flawed’ elections of Jan 5 had put Bangladesh at risk of instability.
“The election did not credibly express the will of the Bangladeshi people,” US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal had said.
“This could have serious ramifications for stability in Bangladesh and (South Asia),” she feared during a hearing in the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the current political and economic situation in Bangladesh in Washington D.C.
The BNP has termed the government ‘illegal’ and has sought a fresh election under a caretaker regime.
The US has been persistently claiming that the polls failed to express the will of the people, although the Election Commission had put the voter turnout at 40 percent. Such a turnout is considered standard in Britain.
Muhith said the government was legal, and that the US was making a mistake like others.
A survey of the US-based International Republican Institute said that Bangladesh was walking down the wrong path since the election.
Muhith said, “The BNP has stayed off the election just because of its rogue intellect. We have been elected by people’s vote.”
About a dialogue with the BNP, he said going by the BNP’s stand he saw no possibility of having talks with the party.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had, before the elections, hinted that a fresh election might be held by dissolving the 10th Parliament if a consensus was reached with the BNP.
She, however, laid the condition that they must severe ties with the Jamaat and shun violence for talks to begin.
On Jan 6, a day after the elections, Hasina had urged the BNP to part ways with Jamaat-e-Islami and arrive at a consensus.
On Jan 7, BNP chief Khaleda Zia had said in an interview with BBC that it would decide on its policy independently, not on anybody’s orders.
Government ministers have since been saying that the election will be held after five years, and that too as per the Constitution.
Around three weeks later, the BNP announced that it would not disassociate itself from the Jamaat.
“The Jamaat is a key member of the 18-Party alliance. That’s why Jamaat was with BNP and will be,” said BNP’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Jan 24.
Muhith said the government must consider being in power for five years. Otherwise, it would not be able to work effectively.
He said the new government had already started preparing for its first budget. Its size may be of Tk 2.5 trillion.
The Awami League is implementing the budget of 2.22 trillion it had passed in its last term.
Source: Bd news24
Muhith…I thought you are a highly educated man…you became a bootlicker of Hasina and gave up your honor and prestige for becoming a “chamcha” of Hasina. People say that the power makes people blind, you are a perfect example. The majority of citizen didn’t get a chance to participate in the last election. If this thing were happened in a Western Country, the GOV would have immediately left and allowed all Citizen to participate in a free and fair election but unfortunately Bangladesh is not a Western country. By claiming that your present GOV is elected by the people is highly immoral…I pray one day your lord Hasina’s days will end and real democracy and rule of law will be established in Bangladesh.
No political party of any country should ever seek outside help or cooperation to promote its internal cause. At the end such “cooperation” ends up in unequal deals that harm the country the country they represent.
Unfortunately for Bangladesh, if there is one party that consistently lobbies/has lobbied external power for its internal ascendancy, it is none other than Awami League of Bangladesh. It did so in post 9/11.In order to secure western support to get to power, especially that of the the US, it shamelessly portrayed Bangladesh as an “Islamist terrorist” state at the time, wanting them to act on its behalf. It worked,
1/11, army backed Care-taker government takeover and behind-the-scene US/India backing helped Awami League to come to power in 2009.
Awami League persisted with the same game plan. It continued to play the “terror” card. But it did not work this time, not 100% anyway. It lost West/US support from its lobby bank.
Mr. Muhit who has as large a mouth as the Jainta Hill surely would know.He and his party has been part of an evil nexus that lobbied the self-aggrandizing India for support (or more correctly, India wanted to make sure that its proven puppet continues in power) that helped Hasina and boot-lickers like Muhit creep back in power through an “election” that is both a sham and a shameful act by every definition.
As Mr. Abdus Sattar rightly says above that Muhit’s claim that the “present government is elected by the people is highly immoral”. Something has gone terribly wrong with this man – either he is so blinded by sycophancy that he has lost the capacity to distinguish between right and wrong or simply that he has finally managed to go crazy.
Regardless, what is most interesting in this whole episode is that by rejecting the 2014 Bangladesh election and by demanding a freer, fairer and a more inclusive election in Bangladesh, the West especially the US are starting to sound moral – this is such an irony!
Muhit is senile. His comments do not merit a reply. Let us wait and see.
Mr. Muhit’s comments are more amusing than interesting. Many times before, he made comments which were not up to the standard of a minister. I consider him a jewel on the crown of the ‘Diamond King’ (in this case the Queen) who seeks favor by flattery. I can’t wait to see the end.