politics
Our Barishal rally is a success, what did the govt gain by blocking everything?’
Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) standing committee member and one of the main speakers of the party’s divisional rally in Barishal said on Saturday that the presence of thousands of people at Bangabandhu Udyan amid all the obstacles proved how much these people loved the country and the party.
“I couldn’t talk to anyone on phone after coming to Barishal. The live telecast of our programme was disrupted due to an absence of internet services. Yet, the entire Barishal had become a city of meetings and processions. Our rally was successfully conducted after winning against all the odds. Now my question is, what did the government gain through blocking everything?” Abbas said.
Read more: AL trying to snatch votes again, just like they did in 2014 and 2018: Fakhrul
The BNP leader added that the incumbent government will completely ruin the country, unless they are removed from power through a free and fair election.
“We’ll never accept an election under the current government. Neither will we let anyone hold an election through electronic voting machines (EVM). The upcoming general election has to be held under a non-partisan caretaker government and through ballot papers, not other way around,” Abbas added.
Read more: Barishal's Bangabandhu Park already a sea of BNP leaders, activists
AL trying to snatch votes again, just like they did in 2014 and 2018: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday said their stance is clear that no election will be held under Sheikh Hasina; she has to resign and dissolve parliament.
“She has to hand over power to a caretaker government. That neutral government will hold a free and fair election,” he said while addressing the crowds at Bangabandhu Udyan during BNP’s Barishal Divisional rally.
He said that Awami League is trying to snatch votes again, like they did in the elections of 2014 and 2018.
“They are trying to show that the new Chief Election Commissioner is neutral who said the election will be held using electronic voting machines. But we have strongly opposed it,” he added.
Also read: BNP divisional rally begins at packed Barishal venue
He said the government keeps saying that Bangladesh is self-sufficient in food production and there is development everywhere.
“But the reality is 42 percent people in Bangladesh are still living under the poverty line,” said Fakhrul.
He said the ongoing movement of BNP is not only to save its Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Tarique Rahman or any leaders but also for saving the people of Bangladesh.
He acknowledged and praised party activists and leaders who started arriving to the venue from Thursday, defying all obstacles amid no vehicular movement.
Tens of thousands of BNP activists and leaders joined the divisional rally in Barishal city, demanding the release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and national election under a non-party neutral government.
Also read: Ishraque says motorcade attacked on the way to BNP’s Barishal rally
The rally began around 11 am at the city’s Bangabandhu Udyan. The crowd spilled out onto the surrounding roads.
Saturday’s rally is be the fifth by the BNP at the divisional level. The first one was held in Chattogram, the second one in Mymensingh, and the third and fourth in Khulna and Rangpur, respectively.
Faridpur-2 by-election voting ends peacefully
Voting in the by-polls to Faridpur-2 constituency ended on Saturday afternoon without any untoward incident.
The voting began at 8am and continued till 4pm.
The UNB correspondent found poor turnout of voters and agents of opposition candidates visiting at least 10 centers of Saltha and Nagarkanda upazilas.
Around 1:30 pm at Bautipara Government Primary School at ward-14 of Nagarkanda upazila no queue of voters was seen and only 396 voters cast votes among 2,312 ones, said presiding officer Shamsul Haque.
Read: Triennial conference of Cumilla city AL begins
However, no polling agent was found in that center for the candidate competing with ‘Bot Gach’ symbol nominated by Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan.
Same thing was reported at Nagarkanda Government Primary School, Saltha Model Government Primary School and several and some other polling centers.
Advocate Jaynul Abedin Mia, Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan nominated candidate for the constituency, said polling agents were appointed at almost all centers except a few.
Triennial conference of Cumilla city AL begins
The triennial conference of Cumilla city unit of Awami League (AL) began at the city’s Town Hall ground on Saturday.
The event was inaugurated by AL General Secretary Obaidul Quader, also Road Transport and Bridges Minister.
Presidium member of the party Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim spoke as the chief guest while another presidium member Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya was present as special guest.
Mahbubul Alam Hanif, joint general secretary of AL, and Abu Saeed Al Mahmud Swapan, organizing secretary of the party, among others, joined the council.
Read more: Dhaka AL Council: Benzir named president, Poniruzzaman GS
The committee of Cumilla city AL was announced for the first time on July 22, 2017, six years after the formation of Cumilla City Corporation (CCC).
The Committee consisted of 71 members. AKM Bahauddin Bahar, Member of Parliament (MP) from Cumilla Sadar constituency and Arfanul haque Rifat, current Mayor of CCC, were made President and General Secretary of the committee.
Voting underway for Faridpur-2 by-election
Voting in the by-polls to Faridpur-2 constituency began on Saturday morning.
The voting began at 8am and will continue till 4pm.
No untoward incident was reported till filling of this report, at 11:30am.
Voting is undergoing at 123 centres in Nagarkanda, Saltha and Sadarpur upazilas of the constituency using Electronic Voting Machines (EVM), said senior district election officer Habibur Rahman.
A total of 3,18,472 people are expected to cast their votes.
As many as 1,052 CCTV cameras have been installed at polling centres ahead of the by-polls.
Read: Voting at Cumilla City polls underway peacefully
Rab, police, Ansar and BGB members have been deployed in the area to maintain law and order situation.
Faridpur-2 constituency fell vacant following the death of senior Awami League leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury.
Sajeda Chowdhury’s son Akbar Chowdhury Labu and Advocate Joynal Abedin Bakul Mia are vying for the seat.
Faridpur-2 by-polls on Saturday
By-elections to the Faridpur-2 constituency that fell vacant following the death of senior Awami League leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury will be held on Saturday (5 November).
The voting will start at 8am and will continue till 4pm.
Read: Rangpur city election on December 27
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal and other election commissioners will monitor the election from Nirbachan Bhaban in Dhaka.
As many as 1,052 CCTV cameras have been installed at polling centres ahead of the by-polls.
The constituency has 3,18,479 voters. The election will be held in 123 voting centers.
Read: CEC appreciates environment of local govt polls
Awami League-backed candidate Shahadab Akbar Labu Chowdhury and Bangladesh Khilafat Andolan candidate Md Zainul Abedin Bakul Mia are contesting in the by-election.
As per constitutional obligation, the EC is required to hold elections within 90 days of a seat being declared vacant.
JCD behind the attack on ex-Judge Manik: Information Minister
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Hasan Mahmud claimed on Friday that the attack carried out on former Judge of Supreme Court AHM Shamsuddin Chowdury Manik was led by BNP’s student wing Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD).
Four JCD men were arrested in this connection, he informed.
The minister came up with the remarks while replying to questions from journalists about participation of BNP-backed lawmakers in talks on ‘National Jail Killing Day’ in parliament, at his government residence on the city’s Mintoo Road.
He said Judge Manik is a generous person who believes in democratic spirit. Besides, he is a strong voice in favour of liberation.
Read more: Attack on ex-justice Manik: 11 JCD activists put on 2-day remand
“Whatever we had been claiming that the BNP drew a scratch of sabotages across the country, it is proved,” the minister said.
“They (BNP) have been carrying out a failed effort to create anarchy in the country in the name of a movement which got exposed through the attack on Judge Manik,” he claimed.
Read more: Attack on ex-judge Manik: 50 BNP men sued
Mentionable, the attack on the judge was made from a procession of the BNP in Nayapaltan area on Wednesday afternoon when he was on his way to attend a TV talk show.
Barishal's Bangabandhu Park already a sea of BNP leaders, activists
Leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) started arriving in Barishal two days early to join the party's divisional rally on Saturday (5 November).
Defying a two-day long transport ban, thousands of party leaders and activists were seen in Barishal city's Bangabandhu Park on Friday.
Read: Barishal transport strike ahead of BNP rally hits commuters hard
Visiting the park on Friday afternoon, UNB found the place overcrowded as thousands have already arrived there and they are cooking their lunch.
Monir Hossain, former organizing secretary of Khanjapur Union Jubo Dal of Gournadi Upazila of Barisal district said, 500 leaders and activists have come from our upazila to join the rally. Lunch has been arranged for all of them. "We have made all cooking arrangements for two days," he said.
Mass movement can't be stopped by threats, says Fakhrul denouncing PM’s statement
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday warned that the ongoing movement cannot be suppressed by threatening to send the party’s chairperson Khaleda Zia back in jail.
He made this remark at the chairperson's office in Gulshan in a response to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's statement that Khaleda Zia will be sent back to jail again if BNP does excesses in the name of movement.
Fakhrul said, “At a time when the country is going through extreme mismanagement, extreme economic and political crisis, she (the Prime Minister) is making such a threat - if she thinks it will disrupt or suppress the movement of democracy, then she is not living in the right place."
No one will be able to suppress this movement of the people. People are fighting for their rights, he added. “Such threats will do nothing to this movement.”
"Her (Prime Minister's) statement has proved that they are vengeful and they do not believe in democracy and independence of the judiciary."
It is because of political vendetta that PM Hasina made such statements and in such a situation, he added.
Read more: BNP’s ideology stands poles apart from Jamaat, it sees India as a special friend, says Mirza Fakhrul in an exclusive interview with UNB
Govt is crossing limits
Fakhrul said it is the Awami League government which is crossing their limits. “They are the ones who destroyed the democracy today by creating state terror and they are completely using their terrorists to obstruct us from holding rallies, our constitutional right.”
“Have you seen in any civilized country that the government goes on strike?” Fakhrul said, adding that the transport movement had been stopped five days before our rally in Barishal.
The launch and speedboat services from Patuakhali to Barishal has stopped. “How do you explain it?” he asked.
The AL govt is trying to come back to power by holding a fake election again, he added.
The BNP secretary general said, 'People have woken up now, people will not allow all these fraudulent activities to happen. They are determined to bring back democracy at any cost.”
People will actually form their government and parliament through an impartial caretaker government, said Fakhrul.
“For that, the first condition we have given is that the Prime Minister should resign along with his government.”
"The government is afraid of the people. As the people are waking up, there will be mass movement. I believe they (Awami League) have to go away through the mass movement.”
Allegations of remittance smuggling
The crises that have arisen in Bangladesh are entirely due to their (AL) corruption, Fakhrul said.
Read more: ‘I can see a confrontational situation ahead’: Mirza Fakhrul
“Even today, it has come out in the newspaper, one-third of those who have migrated to Canada in the last 10 years are Bangladeshis. You will get evidence of these like the falling remittances.”
Remittances are decreasing but the number of the migrated workers has increased again, he added.
“So where is the remittance going? I said the other day that these remittances are being smuggled from abroad to abroad. Those who are involved with the ruling party are smuggling it. That is why the crisis has arisen in the country."
The last divisional rally to be held in Dhaka
Mirza Fakhrul said the last divisional rally will be held in Dhaka on December 10.
“We have announced that we will hold the rally in each division. After that, the responsibility is on the government what they do or not."
“We will continue our protest at any cost to restore democracy along with the people,” Fakhrul added.
As part of its move to continue the pace of its ongoing movement, the BNP on September 27 announced programmes of a series of public rallies in 10 divisional cities.
The organisers said the rallies are meant to denounce the price hike of daily essentials and fuels, the death of five party men in previous police action in Bhola, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, and Jashore, and to ensure the freedom of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.
The BNP has long been demanding that the next general election be held under a caretaker government, not under any political government. The government rejects the demand as unconstitutional.
The rally in Barishal will be the 5th one by the BNP at the divisional level on Saturday as four others were held in Chattogram, Mymensingh, Khulna and Rangpur.
Rangpur city election on December 27
The election to Rangpur City Corporation will be held on December 27.
The election schedule was finalised at a meeting of the Election Commission (EC) with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal in the chair at the Election Commission Secretariat on Thursday.
Read more:Govt to support Election Commission in holding fair election: Law Minister
EC Secretary Md Jahangir Alam announced the schedule after the meeting.
He said the Commission has also decided to use electronic voting machines (EVMs) and CCTV cameras in the election.
The balloting will start at 8.30 am and continue till 4.30 pm without any break.
The election to the city corporation was held on December 21, 2017. The first meeting was held on February 19, 2017. The tenure will end after five years of the first meeting.The meeting also held an elaborate discussion on different local government elections and by-elections in vacant posts.
Read more:EC directed to fix new date for Noakhali Zila Parishad election
It also decided to hold elections to five municipalities and a number of union parishads on December 29.
The five municipalities are—Bagha, Rajshahi, Birol, Dinajpur, Boda, Panchagarh, Alfadanga, Faridpur and Banpara, Natore.