Holding the next polls through reinstating the caretaker-government system is the only way to eliminate violence, BNP suggests, saying that it's easy for the Awami League holding absolute majority in the present parliament.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in this context, recalled that his party had introduced the election-time neutral interim government through amending the constitution with its requisite two-thirds majority in the 1996 parliament to meet the then opposition AL demand.
"Awami League (now) says the caretaker-government system is conflicting to the country's constitution... it should be noted that we (BNP) introduced the caretaker system by amending the constitution," he said Thursday at a press conference in response to a question about election-time government.
"You (Awami League) have an absolute majority in parliament right now, so you can easily reintroduce the caretaker-government system through bringing amendment to the constitution," he added, to confute the ruling party's arguments.
The press conference was organised at BNP Chairperson's Gulshan office to brief the media about the decisions made at the party's recent standing- committee meeting -- in the midst of the current opposition party-led agitation for the next general election to be held under such a stand-in government.
He said, "If we look through the lens of history, it can be seen that no government can hold power for long taking stand against the people, torturing and oppressing them."
Citing "people's resistance" against government actions, the BNP secretary said recently, people in Bhola didn't stand down even after the firing of bullets at them, rather they continued to agitate against the regime's "suppression".
He claimed that the resistance in Bhola gradually spread all over the country, reaching even the villages, which indicates that the people
are waking up to realise their democratic rights.
"We are a democratic party... joining in the uprising of the public, we will pressure this government to accept the demand for bringing back democracy in the country," Fakhrul added.
People's demand is simple - hold the elections in fair and transparent manner, he said. "If the current government stays in power during the national elections, it won't be fair... so, they must resign and hand over power to caretaker government to conduct the elections."
In response to another question about BNP's possible alliance with Jatiya Party (JP), he said that BNP hadn't yet held any formal meeting with JP to discuss any political tie.
"Our door is open... we will welcome if any party, individual, organisation -- or whoever it is -- wants to join us to forge an all-out movement against the authoritarian government," he clarified.
Citing the decision taken in the party's policymaking body's meeting, Fakhrul said BNP would soon unveil the outline of a simultaneous movement for what he says unseating the government.
adnan.hossain3017@yahoo.com
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