Jatiya Party Chairman GM Quader on Wednesday said people are getting confused and losing their trust in the government due to ‘funny’ remarks by ministers. In a statement, he also said ministers are making ‘contradictory’ remarks for lack of coordination.  The Jatiya Party chief said Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haqu’s remarks on taking punitive action against those unvaccinated people aged 18 or above who go outside from August 11 is not only unreasonable, unrealistic and unacceptable, but also completely ridiculous. GM Quader said the number of people in the country who have so far been vaccinated with two doses of the vaccines is less than one crore. READ: Mass vaccination only solution to Covid crisis: GM Quader According to a report of the Covid Taskforce, Bangladesh is one of the countries lagging behind in vaccination drive. “Bangladesh also lags far behind in Southeast Asia in this regard.” The Jatiya Party chief said when the entire world is making life normal through vaccination, it seems the government is taking imprudent decisions to avoid its failure to ensure vaccine jabs for people. He said the minimum age limit for the vaccination is still 25 years. “In that case, how can the garment workers between the ages of 18 and 24 go to factories? How’ll transport workers of this age go out to work?  Or how’ll the shopkeepers of this age open their shops?”  Quader also said the health ministry issued a statement on Tuesday disagreeing with Liberation War Affairs Minister’s comment on not allowing unvaccinated people on the streets.  “Such incidents are happening repeatedly due to the unplanned and short-sighted decisions and for lack of coordination.” People get confused with such statements of the ministers. At the same time, ordinary people are losing trust in the government,” he said. On Tuesday, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque said it has been made mandatory to take Covid jabs for public movement from August 11.  “Any movement by people aged 18 or above without being vaccinated would be considered a punishable offence.” However, the minister withdrew his statement by issuing a media release on Wednesday. READ: Ensure food for poor: GM Quader “All citizens above the age of 18 will be vaccinated in phases. But Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Haque is withdrawing the part of his statement that anyone above 18 years will not be allowed to go outside after August 11,” the release said.

Claiming that a faction of Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam left their coalition under ‘pressure’ from the government, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday said mutual trust among the 20-party alliance partners is “excellent”. “They (Jamiat faction) have failed to survive in politics as an opposition party. So, they’ve left the alliance. They should have said the truth that they had not able to withstand the extreme pressure and lawsuits instead of blaming any party and individual,” he said. Speaking at a press conference at BNP chairpersons’ Gulshan office, the BNP leader said their party is doing politics with the 20-party as per their manifesto maintaining mutual respect. “There’s an excellent mutual trust among us.” READ: Wake up for movement: Fakhrul to youths On July 14, a faction of Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh announced to quit the BNP-led 20-arty alliance for allegedly being ignored in the coalition’s decision-making process. In a written statement, party acting secretary general Moulana Bahauddin Jakaria said  they took the decision as Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam’s leaders and activists at the grassroots level have got angry at BNP for many reasons, including non-evaluation of alliance partners, unilaterally boycotting three recent by-polls without taking opinions of the alliance partners, BNP secretary general’s statement about not believing in Sharia law, not protesting the jailing of Alem-Ulema and repression on them across the country, not expressing sympathy to the party leaders at the death of its secretary general Nur Hossain Kasemi and not taking part in his namaz-e-janaza by the BNP leaders. Fakhrul said Jamiat talked about Sharia law, and it is true that there is nothing written about it in BNP’s constitution. “But we don’t oppose any Sharia law and we won’t pass any law against it. We’re in power and we didn’t pass any law against it. So, it can’t be said that we oppose Sharia law and Islamic values.” He said Jamiat raised the issue only to attack him personally. READ: It’s not a lockdown, but a ‘joke’: Fakhrul   Fakhrul said BNP did not have any problem with Jamiat. “As per the manifesto of the 20-party, the alliance was formed to wage a movement against the fascist regime and join the election under the platform. But the alliance partners can freely do the politics of their own parties as per their belief and values.” Fakhrul said the allegations Jamiat brought against BNP are not true. He said their party issued condolence messages over the death of Jamiat secretary general Nur Hossain Kasemi. The BNP leader said their party issued a statement against the arrest of Alem-Ulema centring the protest against the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Bangladesh on March 26. “We also arranged a press conference over the issue and we repeatedly raised the issue on different occasions. So, how did they say we did nothing in this regard? It’s not true. People hope that the Alem-Ulema will speak the truth.”  Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam’s two factions--one led by late Moulana Mufti Waqqas the other by late Nur Hossain Kasemi--have long been there in the 20-party alliance. The Waqqas-led faction is still there in the 20-party alliance, though another left it. In 1999, the BNP-led four-party alliance was formed to intensify the movement against the then Awami League-led government. The alliance won the 2001 election with a massive vote margin. READ: BNP’s efforts on to send Khaleda abroad: Fakhrul The four-party alliance was expanded to a 20-party one in 2012, but many of its partners, including Islami Oikya Jote, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), NAP and NDP left the party at different times.