Staff Reporter :
The BNP on Tuesday demanded restoration of polls-time non-party caretaker government in the Constitution in order to conduct the next general election under it.
“To hold free, fair and acceptable national polls, there is no 2nd option, but to restore a non-party neutral government in our national Constitution. The government has to insert the caretaker government system in the Constitution,” BNP Standing Committee Member Barrister Moudud Ahmed said it while addressing a discussion meeting in the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in the capital. The programme was organised by the BNP marking the 37th death anniversary of its founder late President Ziaur Rahman. Moudud Ahmed said, the BNP has raised the concept of election-time government, but they are yet to reveal the framework. The BNP leader disclosed the party’s three-point agenda to end the present ‘one-party rule’. He said their first agenda was to free their jailed chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. “No election would be allowed without Khaleda Zia, he said.
Their second agenda is to unite all democratic and patriotic forces, apart from BNP-led alliance, in order to form a national unity and to take preparation for taking the streets.
“And our third agenda is holding mass movement across the country and compel the government to hold general election under a non-party neutral caretaker government,” the former Law Minister said. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir presided over the discussion.
Mirza Fakhrul demanded replacement of the present Election Commission by a new commission.
“We are clearly demanding a new EC, as the incumbent EC is serving the interest of the government. They are changing rules to help the ruling Awami League,” Mirza Fakhrul said.
BNP Standing Committee Member Dr. Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain has asked the party men to be ready for all out movement. “The agitation will not stay within the walls. We must take to the streets to meet our demands to free democracy,” he said.
The party Standing Committee Members Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr. Abdul Moin Khan, Nazrul Isalm Khan, Vice-Chairmen Major Hafiz Uddin Ahmed (rtd) and Selima Rahman, among others, were present.
