Conscious expatriate Bangladeshis of US at a news conference in New York on Saturday urged the government to form a government of national consensus which would hold neutral elections and propose the framework for political reforms within three months with a view to steering clear of the internecine conflicts that are threatening the existence of Bangladesh.
They said a convention of all political parties and respected persons should be called immediately for the purpose. The government should take the initiative since it’s in power. The expatriate Bangladeshis urged the President as the guardian of the state to immediately call a national convention for the purpose.Atiqur Rahman Salu, community activist in New York read out a written statement at the news conference held at the Jackson Heights food court. The news conference was called jointly by rising above political differences, said a message received in Dhaka.
In a ten-point set of recommendations the US-based expatriate Bangladeshi leaders prayed for salvation of those who have dies in violence and called for exemplary punishment of those who are really responsible for arson and violence by bringing them to the purview of justice.
They called for balance of power between the President and the Prime Minister and said that no person should take the office or President or Prime Minister for more than two terms. The tenure of the Parliament, the President and the Prime Minister should be reduced from five years to four years. The Election Commission should be reconstituted to facilitate the holding of non-partisan free and fair election, they said.
The Bangladesh community leaders said that an atmosphere for talks should immediately be created by withdrawing all fabricated cases and unconditionally releasing all patriotic political leaders in the interest of peace and understanding, use of money and muscle power in elections should be stopped and the local government institutions devolved with adequate power and made autonomous in their own spheres.
In the written statement Mr. Saul said the expatriate Bangladeshis felt that the life and property of people in Bangladesh were at stake due to prevailing political crisis and violence in the country. Every conscious citizen of the country was now terrorised by mass arrests, indiscriminate filing of cases on the one hand and abduction, murder on the other, plus the non-stop blockade, hartal and burning down property by the government and the opposition.
He said that expatriates who went abroad in search of livelihood and kept the economy growing by remitting money earned at the cost of their tears, blood and sweat cannot remain silent at this critical juncture as a dangerous internecine crisis was crippling the country.
The expatriates want the crisis to be resolves very speedily in the interest of the country and its people. They urged all irrespective of differences of parties, shades of opinion, caste, creed, profession or class to hold high the flag of democracy, independence and sovereignty.
Leading expatriate Bangladeshis who spoke at the news conference included: general secretary of the Bangladesh Society of New York Abdur Rahim Hawladar, Community leader Subhas Majumder , Gias Majumder, Munir Hossain, Syed Badrul Alam, Nur Dida Khaled, ex-president of Bangladeshi American Pharmacist Association Abdul Awal Siddiq, Abu Taleb Chowdhury Chandu, Munirul Islam, MA Siddiq Pallab, Writer Munirul Islam and Ataur Rahman Ata, the message said. -Staff Reporter
