Ehsanul Haque Jasim :
BNP standing committee member Lt General (Retd) Mahbubur Rahman has said that his party would launch peaceful movement for mid-term polls after reorganising the party.
“Alongside the process of reorganising the party, we are also taking preparation for the mid-term election so that we can take part in it,” he told The New Nation on Thursday.
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at a view-exchange meeting on July 25 reiterated her demand for the fresh election. She said, “It is not that the fresh election has to held under the caretaker government system. We have no objection to election under any neutral administration.” Many said that Khaleda Zia in her speech gave a message to her party leaders and workers to get prepared for mid-term poll.
Party sources said, Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has told the leaders and workers of the party that a mid-term election will be held very soon. He asked the party men to mobilise public opinion and organisational activities so that they could take part in the poll any time.
Mirza Fakhrul gave the direction when the party men met him before his departure from Dhaka for Singapore. The BNP leader flew to Singapore on Monday night for treatment after his release from the jail on bail on July 14.
BNP Chairperson’s adviser Advocate Ahmed Azam Khan confirmed that Mirza Fakhrul had asked them to get ready for the election. “Before flying to Singapore, Mirza Fakhrul advised us to enhance contact with the voters, leaders and activists and get ready for election,” he said.
Meanwhile, a section of the pro-BNP civil society members are working for an alternative formula to hold a neutral election. They think that the formula will be acceptable to both the government and the opposition.
After the recent speech of Khaleda Zia, many think that this initiative of the civil society members will bring a new dimension in the politics. Sources said that the civil society members would present their new formula on the poll-time government soon.
The civil society members under the banner ‘The Concerned Citizens’ Forum’ will present their formula at a roundtable discussion in the city within one or two weeks. Convener of the banner and former Chief Election Commissioner Dr ATM Shamsul Huda is now staying abroad. The roundtable will he held after his return to the country, sources said.
Secretary of the Shushashaner Janya Nagorik (SUJAN) and a member of the Concerned Citizens’ Forum Dr Badiul Alam Majumder said that they were drafting their proposals highlighting the necessity of institutional reforms. “We are going to present our proposals in the interest of the country as well as the nation,” he said.
