CPB feels need for \\\'third alternative\\\' for nation

FE Team | Published: January 26, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) President Mujahidul Islam Selim emphasised on the need for a 'third alternative' for the nation, reports bdnews24.com.
Speaking at the roundtable organised by bdnews24,com in the city Saturday, Selim said the country faces a lack of choice.
"Either they have to look to the Awami League or to the BNP," he said.
"It is our failure, of parties like us that we have not been able to provide our people with a credible alternative," Selim said.
The Communist leader said there was no place for Jamaat-e-Islami in the country's polity.
"We emerged as an independent nation out of a liberation war in which we lost nearly three million people," said Selim.
That war, he said, negated the very idea of Pakistan and what it stood for.
"So there is no place in Bangladesh for those who supported Pakistan. Their cohorts, who subscribed to the ideology of Pakistan, have no place in Bangladesh," said Selim.
He said both the major parties need to be clear on this issue.
"The BNP is still hanging on to the Jamaat-e-Islami. They are not breaking off the alliance. The Awami League also needs to clarify its position on the issue," he said.
Meanwhile, woman rights activist Khushi Kabir sees a danger in the 'sharp drop' in the number of non-Muslims in Bangladesh.
Khushi Kabir said this at the roundtable indicated that the minorities are not feeling safe and are leaving the country.
"This indicates that our secularism is not working the way it should," Kabir said.
She lashed out at both the Awami League and the BNP for pandering to the politics of religious fundamentalism.
"Both the parties need to prove through their action, not just lip service, about their position on Jamaat," said Khushi Kabir.
"When we see a former Jamaat leader of Kushtia has joined Awami league and a senior Awami League leader welcomes him, we get very disappointed," she said.
Ayesha Khanam, chairperson of Bangladesh Mohila Parishad, said Jamaat-e-Islami is a regressive force which perpetrated horrible brutalities against women in 1971.
"Later at various points, Jamaat adopted regressive stands on issues concerning women. So the major political parties must part ways with Jamaat and come forward to strengthen the process of secularism and democracy," she said.
Both the women activists called on the major parties to play a 'robust role' to keep out the politics of religious radicalism.
They said the recent violence before the polls was unleashed and sponsored by Jamaat that brought back the memories of 1971.
"The irresponsible politics of the major parties is giving the Jamaat the necessary space and scope to terrorise the people. This is unacceptable," Khushi Kabir said.