Country to stop on polls schedule

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, inset, addresses a rally of the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan yesterday threatening to paralyse the country if the schedule for the 10th parliamentary election is declared without restoring the non-party caretaker government system. Photo: Palash Khan

The 18-party opposition alliance yesterday threatened to paralyse the country from the moment the Election Commission announces the polls schedule without having a non-party caretaker government.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir issued the threat on behalf of the alliance from a protest rally in the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan.
On the other hand, Election Commissioner M Shah Newaz yesterday said the EC might declare the polls schedule by Monday, and that the 10th parliamentary election would be held in the first week of January.
Meanwhile, addressing the Suhrawardy Udyan rally organised to protest the formation of polls-time cabinet, Fakhrul warned that they would not allow “one-sided election” in the country.
He said the opposition would tomorrow (Sunday) stage protest rallies in every thana, upazila and municipality areas of the country to press home its demand for holding the election under a non-party caretaker government.
The BNP spokesperson also said although Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia had urged the President to take initiative to resolve the ongoing political crisis, he did nothing until now.
He alleged that the EC was enacting different policies to ensure Awami League’s victory in the next election.
Fakhrul also termed the polls-time cabinet illegal.
BNP Dhaka city unit convenor Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Jamaat leaders Izzat Ullah and Abdullah Mohammad Taher, and Secretary General of Liberal Democratic Party Redwan Ahmed also spoke at the rally.
Meanwhile in its reaction to the opposition’s warning, the ruling Awami League (AL) said Fakhrul had issued the threat at a time when the premier urged him to hold talks with his AL counterpart.
Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury told The Daily Star, “If the opposition tries to create any chaos in the name of agitation, law will take its own course.”
She said the door for discussion was still open and that the next elections would be held in participation of all parties.
Meanwhile in Chittagong, BNP Vice Chairman Abdullah Al Noman at a rally asked people to take to the street to resist the upcoming election.
At the same rally, city BNP president Amir Khasru said party activists as soldiers must play their roles in the anti-government movement in the days ahead.