Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has warned that Opposition Leader Khaleda
Zia would be tried ‘someday’ for the deaths during the recent
shutdowns.
“She (Khaleda) will have to take responsibility for them,” Hasina told
a rally in Gopalganj, her ancestral home, on Tuesday.
“We will try these killings someday,” she said.
The BNP-led 18-party alliance is trying to enforce a third spell of
shutdown across Bangladesh in as many weeks to press for a non-party
government to supervise the upcoming national polls.
Hasina said at least 20 people had been killed so far during the strikes.
She also criticised the Opposition demand for a non-party polls-time government.
The two leading political alliances are at loggerheads over the nature
of the election-time government.
“We want to ensure the people’s basic right to vote.
“The BNP says it will boycott the polls since it will not be able to
rig them,” claimed Hasina.
She said no one had any scope to question the fairness of nearly 6,000
elections conducted at various levels under her government as they
were free of rigging.
Hasina, also the ruling Awami League chief, spoke of her government’s
successes in many sectors.
“We hope none will have to live in huts if we come to power again.
“We try to ensure that each citizen will at least have tin-shed houses
to live in,” she said, urging the people to vote her party to power
for a second consecutive term.
Hasina sought votes and blessings from the people of Gopalganj as she
had done before.
“I’ll keep working for the welfare of the people if Allah gives me the
opportunity,” she said.
Lead (Photo of Mirza Fakhrul from media library)
PM should resign to resolve crisis: Fakhrul
The BNP has demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation to ‘solve the
current political impasse’.
Party spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said forming a
poll-time government would only add fuel to the fire.
“We believe collecting resignation letters from the ministers to form
an all-inclusive government is not in keeping with the Constitution,”
he told bdnews24.com over the phone from an undisclosed location on
Tuesday.
“It will only make the situation more delicate,” Fakhrul, also the
BNP’s acting Secretary General, said in his first reaction since the
ministers submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
on Monday.
Law Minister Shafique Ahmed on Tuesday said the resignations were
‘merely a formality’.
“According to the Constitution resignations become effective only
after they are submitted to the President,” he said.
“These are not resignations at all. Just a formality,” he had said.
Hasina had proposed an all-inclusive poll-time government last month
but the Opposition has remained steadfast in its demand for a
non-party caretaker to supervise the election.
Mirza Fakhrul said the Prime Minister should step down immediately to
solve the ‘crisis’.
“We believe it will pave the way to a dialogue [between the ruling
Awami League and the BNP],” he added.
Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia had initially rejected Hasina’s offer to
hold talks. After a Nov 2 meeting with top business leaders, however,
she agreed to ‘unconditional’ Secretary General-level discussions with
the Awami League.
When the businessmen met Hasina, she had told them that her talks
offer was ‘still open’.
Mirza Fakhrul had announced a 72-hour Opposition shutdown last Friday.
He had also issued a statement protesting against the arrests of five
BNP leaders, within hours of the strike-call.
According to BNP leaders, Fakhrul has been giving instructions from a
‘safe place’ as per the party chief’s order.
BNP’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday alleged the
Opposition’s leaders were suffering from a sense of ‘insecurity’
following the arrests.
Fakhrul blamed the 15th constitutional amendment, which scrapped the
caretaker government provision, for the current political deadlock.
“They (the government) have planned this crisis and it deepened with
the ministers’ resignation submission drama.”
He also accused the government of “not trying to solve the crisis”.
The BNP spokesperson urged the ruling party to take the initiative for
a discussion on a non-party, poll-time government.
“We hope the government will regain its senses and take initiatives to
hold an all-inclusive poll through a dialogue,” he said.
Fakhrul said party’s five detained leaders should be released to
create an atmosphere suitable for a dialogue.
He asked the government not to try to bar the Opposition’s ‘peaceful’
political programmes. – bdnews24.com
