Bangladesh News

The 14-party opposition combine observes today “reform proposals implementation day” in a bid to put pressure on the government before the final round of talks between the ruling BNP and the Awami League (AL) tomorrow.

The opposition is set to stage countrywide demonstrations today to observe the day. They will hold a massive rally on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital and bring out a procession to press home their demands for electoral reforms.

The opposition top brass will instruct their activists today to go for all-out demonstrations with sticks, oars and poles to put up strong resistance and paralyse the city if the government hands over power to “BNP-partisan” Justice KM Hasan.

The top district level leaders will also direct local leaders to make preparations for keeping the streets under control if the situation so develops.

The 14-party has held a series of preparatory meetings with their leaders of the city’s thana, ward and union units and of all front organisations in the last couple of days.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil, also coordinator of the 14-party, yesterday asked the government not to create any constitutional crisis by pre-empting the reform dialogue. He was directing the leaders of opposition alliance’s front organisations at a joint meeting at AL central office on Bangabandhu Avenue yesterday.

Jalil also asked them to make preparations for keeping up continuity of the country’s democratic system. “If democratic system is thwarted, it will be a massive loss for the nation,” he added.

The AL leader, who is negotiating with his BNP counterpart Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan since October 5 over electoral reforms, reiterated that they would put up resistance in the capital and district and upazila headquarters, if their demands are not met.

Explaining the necessity of reforms and referring to Justice Hasan’s political affiliation with the BNP, he said BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told him the government would give its final decision on caretaker chief tomorrow.

“If the crisis is not resolved through the dialogue, we will not have any alternative but to forge all-out movements to realise our demands,” he said. He however expressed the hope that the prime minister will make a positive decision about the head of the next caretaker government.

“If she [PM] decides otherwise, we will compel the authorities to concede to our demands through a tough resistance movement,” Jalil asserted.

He warned that if any obstruction is raised from the administration to their movement, they would launch tougher action from that very spot and spread it across the country to force the authorities accept their demands.

After Jalil’s speech, the opposition combine held a closed-door meeting with the leaders of their front organisations and city units. At the meeting, the senior leaders also directed them to make preparations for the next elections if everything goes well.

Chaired by AL presidium member Abdur Razzak, the meeting was also attended by Matia Chowdhury, Obaidul Quader, Mukul Bose, Hasanul Huq Inu, Bimal Biswas, Dilip Barua, Pankaj Bhattacharjee, Sharif Nurul Ambia, Shirin Akhter, and Dr Asit Baron Roy.