Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said they wanted an immediate general election under a neutral government, not a midterm election as it did not accept the election of January 5, 2014.
He said a totally neutral Election Commission must be instituted on the basis of public opinion to conduct the next election.
The BNP secretary general came up with the remarks addressing a discussion against the backdrop of recent speculations about a midterm election.
He said the issue of midterm election was now being raised to ‘confuse’ people.
Fakhrul said HM Ershad of Jatiya Party, main opposition in parliament, recently stated about midterm election while prime minister Sheikh Hasina in New York dismissed the likelihood of a midterm election.
BNP never demanded a midterm election as the party did not accept the last general election, he said, adding that even five per cent voters did not cast vote in that election, boycotted by the most of the political parties.
Jatiya Ganatantrik Party, an ally of BNP-led alliance, orgainised the discussion on forging unity to restore democracy at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity auditorium in the capital.
The BNP leader again blamed Awami League for pampering extremism. The ruling party was using the issue of ‘militancy’ for ‘narrow political interest’, he said.
Fakhrul observed that it was not Awami League running the country but ‘someone else’ was governing the country.
He said the root cause of present crises in the country including rise of extremism was ‘absence of democracy’.
Fakhrul said the key sprit of liberation war was democracy which was now seized by Awami League.
He, however, said the AL had once struggled hard for democracy.
He recalled that people had made Awami League victorious in the election of 1970 but the then Pakistan regime deprived them of state power.
As a result, people joined the War of Independence to establish their rights and for an independent nation, he said.
Presiding over the discussion, JAGPA president Shafiul Alam Prodhan asked for immediate formation of Chhatra Sangram Parishad to get the final results of movement putting an end to ‘misrule’ of Sheikh Hasina.
He emphasised expansion of the present alliance-led by the BNP.
The JAGPA chief alleged that ‘India with the support of Sheikh Hasina’ created extremism in Bangladesh.
Source: New Age