BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has said Bangladesh has been stripped of democracy and that it must be restored through a movement.
“We have not lost. It is they who have lost,” she said as a rejoinder to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s earlier remark that the party had lost both ways by sitting out the 10th general election.
Khaleda said she along with leaders of her party will tour the country to rally the public behind their movement against what she termed was an ‘illegal’ and ‘dangerous’ government.
However, she added, efforts to hold talks with the government will continue alongside the agitation.
She sought to clarify that the campaign was “for democracy, not power”.
Thanking the people for “rejecting a ‘farcical’ election, she announced mass rallies in Dhaka’s Suhrawardy Udyan and in all district and Upazila headquarters on Jan 20.
She said BNP founder late President Ziaur Rahman’s birthday on Jan 18 will be celebrated through discussions.
Khaleda also called nationwide mass protests and black flag processions for Jan 29, the day the 10th Parliament will hold its first session.
The Jan 5 vote did not reflect the will of the people, she claimed, which was why “no one” had gone to the polling centres.
The BNP-led 18-Party alliance had announced that it will resist polling on Jan 5. Balloting was marked by numerous attacks on voting centres, with at least 21 people killed in violence.
She claimed ‘only 5 percent’ of the voters cast their votes which the government made out to be 40 percent.
“The Awami farce during the Jan 5 election proves how rational it is to hold general election under a neutral government,” she argued.
“It proves that a partisan government can never allow a fair and free election.
“I am hoping the repressed people will get their vote rights back,” she said.
Khaleda began addressing the media at 4pm on Wednesday at Hotel Westin.
This is her first appearance before the media after the Awami League was reelected to power in the parliamentary elections. She took questions from the media after reading out her written speech.
Before that the journalists present there were shown and given CDs of “Election of Farce and Fog” – a 45-minute video-documentary about ‘voter-less’ polling centres during the election.
It also contains interviews of presiding and polling officers along with some regular people.
The same documentary was screened for foreign ambassadors in Dhaka on Jan 13.
Her media briefing came a day after she met with leaders of the 18-Party alliance on Wednesday.
Khaleda’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan said, “This alone proves that people did not go to vote during the ridiculous Jan 5 election.”
The Awami League returned to power for a second straight term as the largest party in Parliament and the Jatiya Party with 33 seats replaced the BNP as main Opposition.
Taking questions about bloodsheds during the 18-Party programmes, Khaleda said, “The BNP never caused violence. Our campaigns are centred on the public.”
She avoided a direct answer when asked her party will part ways with Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami. She said Jamaat was a political party and the Awami League had also campaigned with them in the past.
The former prime minister also said the Awami League broke an understanding between democratic parties in 1986 during Ershad’s dictatorial regime by taking part in an election with Jamaat-e-Islami.
“Who were those who campaigned for caretaker government? Awami League, Jamaat and Jatiya Party got united to start the system. It seems that they (Awami League) were always with Jamaat.”
About foreign affairs, she said the BNP wanted friendly ties with all neighbours but disliked intrusion of foreigners into Bangladesh’s internal matters.
Khaleda protested against the ‘incarceration’ of party leaders and workers and demanded their immediate release.
“The jails are filled with thousands of leaders and activists. The home of opposition leaders are being torn down while they and female members of their households are being abducted.”
“All protests are being silenced with weapons. They did not think twice before confining Maulana (Abdul Hamid Khan) Bhashani to his home. Now they are putting the Leader of the Opposition under house arrest,” she said referring to the law enforcers besieging her house before the elections.
The BNP Chairperson made promises of better governance and said Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus will be restored with the ‘respect he deserves’.
Yunus, the former Grameen Bank Managing Director who was sacked in 2011 causing a public spat with the past Awami League government, supports the BNP’s demand for a caretaker administration to oversee the general election.
Source: Bd news24
