The way the political situation in the country is evolving, it could lead to a serious confrontation on the streets unless the government takes responsibility to resolve all the disputes regarding the election, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said yesterday.
He made the comments in a views-exchange meeting with members of Overseas Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (OCAB), a platform of Dhaka-based journalists working for foreign media outlets, at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
Fakhrul reiterated the BNP’s stance that there was no way they would join the next election if it is held under a political government.
He accused the government of harassing opposition BNP leaders and activists and barring them from joining the anti-government rallies.
The BNP leader said obstacles were being created by the intelligence agencies and administration to foil the opposition rallies.
He said their people were being intimidated. “The intelligence people are sitting with the DCs and SPs and making decisions to foil our programmes.”
In reply to a query, Fakhrul said the BNP would present the formula for an election-time caretaker government before the people at an appropriate time. “If the government has any sense of responsibility, it will accept that.”
He added that if they win the next election, the BNP would form a national government with all the parties that participate in their planned simultaneous movement with the common objective of restoring the country’s democracy — something that has been mooted before by the party’s exiled acting chairperson, Tarique Rahman.
“We will then resolve all the existing problems in the country with the united efforts of all,” Fakhrul said.
He also promised to revoke all the repressive laws, including the Digital Security Act, if the BNP gets to form the government.
OCAB convenor and BBC correspondent Qadir Kallol, its member secretary and German news agency DPA correspondent Nazrul Islam Mithu, UNB Editor Farid Hossain, Manabzamin editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, and Bangladesh bureau chief of the Associated Press Julhas Alam, were among the journalists present.
