The BNP has said it is not only ‘disappointed’ with the selection of people for the EC search committee but also ‘disgusted’ with the choice.
It believes the proposed committee is full of pro-government people with which a neutral Election Commission cannot be constituted.
The party reaction came from its Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday even before the government made an official announcement.
Fakhrul’s reaction was based on media reports hours before the official gazette notification by the government.
Supreme Court’s Appellate Division judge Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain is heading the committee, which will recommend names to the president for commissioners of the next EC.
The other members of the committee include Justice Obaidul Hassan, Public Service Commission chairman Muhammed Sadique, Dhaka University English Professor Syed Manzoorul Islam, Chittagong University Pro-VC Shireen Akhter, and Comptroller and Auditor General Masud Ahmed.
It is the same judge, Justice Hossain, who headed the search committee in 2012 which recommended names for the current EC. The tenure of the current EC expires this February.
Reacting to the names, Fakhrul said, “The honourable President has given us a glowing example of non-partisanship. We are not only disappointed, we are angry. We can already sense the kind of commission this search committee can make.”
He alleged the committee has been formed by ‘government-loyal people’ and pointed out that two of its members– Pro-VC Shireen and CAG Masud are Awami League appointees.
He said the committee would fail to meet aspirations of the people and is designed only to ‘fool the people’.
Fakhrul took umbrage at Prof Shireen’s reaction to a TV station in which she termed it a ‘sacred duty’ to take up any responsibility entrusted by the ‘very capable daughter of Bangabandhu’.
He said, “You understood? What a neutral search committee has been made!”
Criticising the president, he said, “The president is that institution which we take as our guardian. We expect a neutral stand from him.
“It is our misfortune, it is the misfortune of the people that we got such an opportunity to pull this nation out of the political anarchy but he did not even accept the opportunity.”
He said he believes that the country has been thrown into political instability and uncertainty ‘again.’
Fakhrul also said, “We do not hesitate to say that this government wants this uncertainty to prevail.”
Source: Bd news24
