CA justifies army deployment in his address to nation

Trackback URL

Download PDF

President and Chief Adviser Prof Iajuddin Ahmed last night assured the nation that the democratic and constitutional process would continue in the country despite the deployment of army.

“I would like to firmly assure you that our hard-earned democratic and constitutional process will continue,” he said in an address to the nation, the third after he assumed office of the chief advisor to the caretaker government.

“I do expect that I’ll be able to hand over power to the government to be elected through a fair election in cooperation with the people and all concerned within the stipulated time,” he said.

The president said there is no alternative to holding the general election to the 9th parliament to uphold the democratic process and the constitution. “The Election Commission has already taken all steps to hold the election in time.”

His 19-minute speech since 11.10pm was broadcast by radio and television channels.

Prof Iajuddin called upon the people to cooperate with the Armed Forces in discharging their duties, as the army is the national institution built through the War of Liberation. “They neither belong to any party nor any quarter.”

He also called upon the officials and employees of the republic to discharge their respective duties neutrally, giving utmost importance to the interests of the country as well as the people.

“All will have to remain alert so that individual or party interest cannot stand in the way of discharging our national duty in any way,” the president said.

Justifying the army deployment, he said, “Maintaining law and order is a precondition to fair elections.” He said he had talks with the advisors of his caretaker government in this regard.

He said he considered the necessity of army assistance for the civil administration to protect public life and property, maintain economic activities and curb terrorism. “Because the incidents of stealing, dacoity and snatching have marked a rise in the country for the last few days as the law enforcing agencies remained busy with political programmes like recent blockades and sit-in programmes,” he added.

He added that the army had been called out in aid of the civil administration also in the past to curb terrorism, tackle disasters, control traffic, distribute VGF cards and manage water supply in the Dhaka City.

The president hoped that the people would exercise their franchise in a festive mood to take forward the democratic advancement.

He said various steps taken for updating the voter list, administrative changes and reconstitution of the Election Commission have created an ideal atmosphere for holding a fair election.

He thanked the political parties for showing a positive attitude and extending cooperation in attaining such successes.

Prof Iajuddin said the caretaker government has taken various steps for holding free, fair, peaceful and neutral election in time as the government is committed to performing its constitutional duties.

The chief advisor observed that blockade and other programmes, those came as part of political movement after the takeover of the caretaker government, halted the country’s economy and created intolerable public sufferings.

Leave a Reply