BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said it is the government that can break the present political deadlock either through holding talks or reinstating the caretaker government system at its own initiative.
“We’ve said they (govt) can resolve the crisis through bringing a bill for amending the constitution to restore the caretaker government system in the upcoming parliament session. This is the best way to get rid of the crisis,” he said.
He continued, “If they (govt) want to overcome the crisis in any other way, they’ll have to take an initiative for discussion with the opposition. If they’ve any idea they must share it. The problem can be resolved with taking the opposition’s opinion.”
Fakhrul made the remarks while talking to reporters at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office. Mentioning that his party is always in favour of talks, negotiation and peace, the BNP spokesman said they will not hesitate to sit with the government at any place to work out the framework of a non-party polls-time government.
He however warned that if the ongoing political crisis is not resolved immediately, the country will slip into violence and uncertainty. Referring to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s proposal for dialogue, Fakhrul said, “In our party’s reaction to the phone call of the UN Secretary General to the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, we’ve said we’re ready for talks to put an end to the crisis, but the discussion must be focused on the non-party caretaker government.”
On Friday, the UN secretary general phoned Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia and urged them to hold dialogues to overcome the ongoing political crisis over the next general election.
The UN Secretary General told both the leaders that the global community wants to see a free and fair election in Bangladesh with the participation of all parties. The BNP spokesman said the ongoing political crisis broke out as the government annulled the caretaker government system without having the public mandate. “As they’ve created the problem without any reason, they must now resolve it. They must come up with an offer for dialogue.”
He also alleged that the government through the 15th amendment to the constitution also created a constitutional crisis. “There’s an ambiguity in the constitution about the tenure of the government and the framework of the polls-time interim government.”
The BNP leader was critical of the ministers and the ruling party leaders about their contradictory remarks about the dialogue. “A few days back, AL spokesman Syed Ashraful Islam said there’s no scope for dialogue. The Law Minister yesterday (Monday) said there’s a chance for talks and a framework of an interim government can be ironed out through discussions. It seems to us the government is confused as to how they’ll resolve the problem,” Fakhrul added.
He also came down heavily on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her remark that the opposition leader does not believe in peaceful transfer of power, saying there was not a shred of truth in her speech.
On Monday, while exchange views with the district administrators of 61 districts at her official residence Ganobhaban, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said, “The BNP chairperson never believes in peaceful transfer of power and that’s why she created anarchy always in the past and she still creates problems,” the Prime Minister said.
Disapproving the PM’s comment, Fakhrul said it is Awami League that has a history of creating chaos and violence just before election. They did it during 1996, 2001 and 2007 and even killed people with sticks and oars.
“Awami League is responsible for every obstacle to democracy in the country. They had established one-party rule Baksal in 1975 by banning all parties and all newspapers but four.” He claimed they never created any stumbling block to peaceful transfer of power.
“We had been defeated in the election in 1996, but we transferred power peacefully. What the Prime Minister said in this regard was not true… it’s unfortunate that the Prime Minister often makes some comments to confuse people which have no relation with the fact.” -UNB
