People have right to know state reform timeline: Tarique

Stressing the importance of quick completion of state reforms, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman has said people have the right to know the intention of the current interim government about it, including the timeline and duration required for the reforms, reports UNB.

"People have the right to know what the current interim government intends to do and how many months or how much time they need to reform the state," he said while virtually addressing a discussion, organised by BNP at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in the capital on Sunday, marking Great Victory Day.

The BNP leader said if the government announces its future action plan and roadmap, it would ensure transparency on one hand and accountability to the people on the other, and it would boost the pace of the administration's activities.

He, however, said if the advisers' expressions reveal signs of unease after hearing the interim government's roadmap, it would certainly go against the aspirations of the people. "The more transparent the government is with people through its activities, the more support people will extend to it," Tarique mentioned.

The nation is set to celebrate the 54th Victory Day on Monday with festivities, paying tribute to martyrs and freedom fighters of the Liberation War.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the Awami League had destroyed the dreams of the Liberation War shortly after independence, through misrule, repressive acts, and by dismantling democracy and stripping people of their rights.

He said BNP founder Ziaur Rahman was the first to initiate reforms in the country, introducing multiparty democracy and a free-market economy.

Fakhrul said Zia also brought reforms to the agriculture, education, and industrial sectors, strengthening the country's economy.

BNP Standing Committee members AZM Zahid Hossain, Salahuddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman, Nazrul Islam Khan, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, and Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, among others, spoke at the programme.

Meanwhile, according to a FE report, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman extended on Sunday his fullest support to the people of Republic of Korea (South Korea) for their struggle for democracy.

In a statement on social media, he observed that similar oppressive rules were witnessed during one and a half decades (during Awami League rule led by Sheikh Hasina) in Bangladesh and South Korea's struggle for democracy.

"I express my solidarity to the people of South Korea who struggled for democracy," he said.

He said people of Bangladesh faced an oppressive regime (of Awami League) over one and a half decades.

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