Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on Saturday called upon the Chief Adviser to interim government, Prof Muhammad Yunus, to announce a roadmap of the election along with the formation of a new election commission based on the consensus of major political parties.
“A new Election Commission will have to be formed immediately based on the consensus of major political parties suspending the Election Commission Appointment Act. We have asked to give a roadmap when the election commission will hold the election,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said while talking to reporters after a dialogue with the Chief Adviser.
He said they placed a number of proposals before the interim government seeking urgent steps to address their concerns, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s stay in India.
Fakhrul said they drew the interim government’s attention to Hasina’s activities from India and urged the government to discuss the matter with the Indian government.
The BNP secretary general led a six-member party delegation at the talks to discuss reform and other relevant issues, including the current political situation.
Interim Govt's success hinges on eradicating 'ghost of fascism' from administration: Fakhrul
BNP standing committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan and Salahuddin Ahmed were among the members of the BNP delegation.
BNP was the first party to join the dialogue with political parties at the invitation of the Chief Adviser on Saturday.
After an hour-long meeting, the Chief Adviser sat with Jamaat-e-Islami led by its Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman.
"We have told the chief adviser that no controversial person should go to the Election Reform Commission. We have asked to cancel all the Union Parishads elected by fake votes of the fascist government. We have asked to bring the chief election commissioners and commissioners who were with them in 2014, 2018 and 2024 under the law on charges of fake, failed and biased elections,” said the BNP leader.
Fakhrul said, "He (Chief Adviser) told us that holding elections is his number one priority."
When asked what the chief adviser said about BNP's demands, he said they are looking at the issues with great importance. “They think our demands are the people's demands, our demands are theirs too."
BNP's demands include removal of ‘one or two’ members of the interim government. "There are one or two (persons) in the interim government who are obstructing the main sprit of the interim government and the people's uprising. We demanded their removal," the BNP leader said.
The party demanded legal action against former Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, who according to Fakhrul, was the main man behind ‘destroying the electoral system and cancellation of the caretaker government system’, on charge of sedition.
The interim government began the fresh round of dialogue with major political parties to further seek their opinions as it proceeds with six reform commissions.
Fakhrul said some bureaucrats, police officials and ministers are reportedly fleeing the country and they wanted to know how they are fleeing and who are assisting them to flee.
He said they laid emphasis on appointing fit and neutral candidates in key posts, cancellation of contractual appointments and ensure promotion of deprived officials.
The BNP leader said there has been no change in the High Court Division and sought steps for removal of party-affiliated judges.
He said they also raised the CHT issue and urged the government to look into it seriously and find out people responsible for creating instability in the CHT.
The BNP leader alleged that different offices and departments are not cooperating with the UN team which is visiting Bangladesh.
At the invitation of the interim government, a UN Human Rights Office fact-finding team is conducting an independent and impartial investigation into alleged human rights violations that took place between July 1 and August 15 this year, arising from the recent protests.
The fact-finding team is mandated to establish facts, identify responsibilities, analyse root causes, and make concrete recommendations for Bangladesh to address past human rights violations and prevent their recurrence.
Regarding the Hindu community, he said few people, not all, in a planned way trying to instigate the people and sought the government's steps as the BNP sees it as a conspiracy against the country.
Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam at a press briefing on Thursday said that BNP and several other political parties have been invited to participate in the dialogue.
“The key purpose of the dialogue is to inform the political parties about progress over the six reform commissions’ work and discuss the law and order situation of the country, and seek their suggestions,” he told reporters, mentioning that this is an ongoing process.
There were two rounds of dialogue between political parties and the Advisory Council led by Prof Yunus after the formation of the interim government on August 8.
The government has formed six reform commissions.
The reform commissions are: the Electoral System Reform Commission headed by Dr Badiul Alam Majumdar, the Police Administration Reform Commission headed by Sarfaraz Hossain, the Judiciary Reform Commission headed by Justice Shah Abu Naeem Mominur Rahman, Anti-Corruption Reform Commission headed by TIB’s Dr Iftekharuzzaman, Public Administration Reform Commission headed by Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury and Constitution Reform Commission headed by Distinguished Professor at Illinois State University Prof Ali Riaz.