EC to press govt to lift ban on indoor politics across country
Monday, 17 September 2007
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda Sunday said, the Election Commission (EC) would exert pressure on the government for lifting the ban on indoor politics across the country, as the EC is now holding dialogue with political parties preparatory to polls next year, reports UNB.
Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL) Sunday sat for dialogue with the EC. The KSJL leaders asked the EC not to allow Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh to participate in the elections, as they said, the party "directly opposed the Liberation War, committed war crime, and did not yet seek apology for their criminal acts" during the war period.
The CEC, during the talk said, "the government must do it (lift the ban countrywide)… Because with holding Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) election we are to start holding elections from January (next year)… Things can't go like this."
KSJL proposed that the EC should not register "any party if it opposed the Liberation War of Bangladesh, and did not seek apology in public for the heinous crime until the date of filing registration application."
Responding to the KSJL proposal, the CEC reminded that Bangabandhu forgave the war criminals by declaring general amnesty when the question of what to do with war criminals came after one year of the Liberation War.
'Those against whom there is no specific allegation have been brought under general amnesty,' the CEC quoted the announcement having said, adding that he thought the then government had a gap in it (announcement).
"These people (war criminals) should have been punished… It's you who made the anti-freedom people like Shah Aziz prime minister after 1975… The anti-freedom people also held ministerial portfolio in the previous regime… Now, you tell what to do… How can we approach?"
Kader Siddiqui said, they are not identifying the individual anti-liberationist rather telling that as an organisation Jamaat was "anti-freedom, killed people, raped women and did other heinous activities. It is proved… There are lots of evidences in newspapers."
Moreover, the KSJL president, a veteran freedom fighter, said, the constitution of Jamaat tells of the rule of Allah, while the EC is telling to uphold the country's Constitution.
Krishak Sramik Janata League (KSJL) Sunday sat for dialogue with the EC. The KSJL leaders asked the EC not to allow Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh to participate in the elections, as they said, the party "directly opposed the Liberation War, committed war crime, and did not yet seek apology for their criminal acts" during the war period.
The CEC, during the talk said, "the government must do it (lift the ban countrywide)… Because with holding Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) election we are to start holding elections from January (next year)… Things can't go like this."
KSJL proposed that the EC should not register "any party if it opposed the Liberation War of Bangladesh, and did not seek apology in public for the heinous crime until the date of filing registration application."
Responding to the KSJL proposal, the CEC reminded that Bangabandhu forgave the war criminals by declaring general amnesty when the question of what to do with war criminals came after one year of the Liberation War.
'Those against whom there is no specific allegation have been brought under general amnesty,' the CEC quoted the announcement having said, adding that he thought the then government had a gap in it (announcement).
"These people (war criminals) should have been punished… It's you who made the anti-freedom people like Shah Aziz prime minister after 1975… The anti-freedom people also held ministerial portfolio in the previous regime… Now, you tell what to do… How can we approach?"
Kader Siddiqui said, they are not identifying the individual anti-liberationist rather telling that as an organisation Jamaat was "anti-freedom, killed people, raped women and did other heinous activities. It is proved… There are lots of evidences in newspapers."
Moreover, the KSJL president, a veteran freedom fighter, said, the constitution of Jamaat tells of the rule of Allah, while the EC is telling to uphold the country's Constitution.