Opposition MPs on Wednesday placed BNP chief and opposition leader Khaleda Zia’s proposal for forming a polls-time interim-government and urged the Prime Minister to accept it for maintaining peace and stability in the country’ for the sake of its democracy.
They also urged the Prime Minister to take effective masseurs for dialogue between the ruling and opposition parties in this regard.
Standing on a point of order in the House around 7pm, BNP standing committee member and senior MP Jamiruddin Sircar placed the proposal.
“In the context of the current political situation, I’m in favour of the opposition leader and opposition MPs are proposing that the issue of non-party caretaker government should be resolved through talks,” he told the House.
Mentioning that the sooner the present crisis is resolved the better it is, he said, “I’m on behalf of the 18-party and BNP placing a specific proposal in the light of people’s expectation and aspirations for consideration of the Prime Minister.”
As the Prime Minister was absent when he was placing the proposal, the BNP MP said he hoped that the premier is listening to his speech from her residence.
On Monday, Khaleda Zia offered an alternative formula to form a polls-time government led by a revered person comprising 10 ex-advisers from the 1996 and 2001 caretaker governments to be chosen by the ruling and opposition parties to hold an inclusive and credible election.
Sircar placed the same proposal and said as the advisers and 2001 caretaker governments were acclaimed by all quarters for their neutrality from those 20 Advisers the ruling party can propose five names and the opposition another five.
They will be the Advisers to the forthcoming election-time government, he said a respected citizen of the country on the basis of a consensus between the government and the opposition parties can be chosen as the Chief Adviser to the interim government.
The BNP leader also made a fervent appeal to the Prime Minister to take initiatives to form this government through a constitutional process.
He also said the interim government can be elected in the same way the President, the Speaker and women MPs are elected before the current Parliament is dissolved.
Sircar said they earnestly urged the Prime Minister to accept their proposal with due importance to continue the democratic process and keep parliament functional.
Referring to Prime Minister’s proposal on the polls-time government, the BNP policymaker said she did not cover many things in her proposal.
On October 18, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina proposed forming an all-party election-time government to oversee the next general election but fell short of making it clear who will head the interim administration.
Sircar warned the government that if it takes preparation for election keeping the amended articles 57 and 58 unchanged the future of the nation and democracy will be pushed into darkness.
On conclusion of Sircar’s speech, senior treasury bench member Tofail Ahmed took the floor and urged the opposition to come up with a proposal as per the rules of procedure for having a discussion on how the polls will be held.
Tofail Ahmed also citied quotes of Khaleda Zia made against the 19196 caretaker government accusing the government of vote rigging which were
published in the daily Dinkal and other newspapers.
In reply, Sircar took the floor again and said their proposal was made for
the Prime Minister’s consideration and apparently expressed dissatisfaction
as Tofail talked about the issue.
“There was no provision of caretaker government during the 1996 when your party together with Jamaat argued for it. Today, you’re making contradictory remarks. Yes. You can. But fact remains that it was your (AL’s) proposal (caretaker government).”
Earlier, in the day, the opposition MPs joined the current session around 6:15pm. But they stayed for only 96 minutes as they staged a walkout around 7:51pm protesting treasury bench member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim’s remarks on the rule of slain president Ziaur Rahman.
Source: UNB Connect
