Bangladesh News

Most major political parties yesterday in their official reactions expressed disappointment over the chief adviser’s (CA) address to the nation.

Awami League (AL) central leaders yesterday blasted the speech for ‘not incorporating’ any of their ‘5-point demand’ including the demand for release of detained party chief Sheikh Hasina. Party leaders are scheduled to sit again today to decide whether to take part in the upcoming political dialogues with the government.

Detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia appointed Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain, who is also the de facto executive chief of pro-Khaleda faction in the party, yesterday said the CA’s address to the nation ‘disheartened the people as he ignored all important public issues’.

He said they are still evaluating the speech and their full-fledged formal reaction will be given later.

Jatiya Party (JP-Ershad) announced token demonstrations in all districts scheduled for May 20, protesting at the CA’s speech ‘without any guidelines’ and against the government’s ‘inefficiency in running the country’.

The party that had been supporting the military backed caretaker government surprisingly changed its earlier position and rejected the CA’s speech while expressing ‘no confidence in the caretaker government’.

A number of other political parties including Workers Party, the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu), Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD), JP (Monju), Jamaat-e-Islami, factions of Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), and Jatiya Mukti Council also lambasted the speech of Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed.

Bikalpadhara Bangladesh however welcomed the speech while Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) expressed a mixed reaction.

At separate meetings, most political parties said the CA’s speech on holding the upcoming election and dialogues between the government and political parties will create further confusions among the people, as there was no specific indication for withdrawing the Emergency Power Rules (EPR), no indication of measures to deal with price hikes of essentials, and no mention of trials of war criminals.

They also criticised the conditional lifting of the ban on ‘indoor politics’.

AL
At a meeting of the party’s central working committee (ALCWC) yesterday, leaders said they need to rethink seriously whether to participate in the upcoming official dialogues with the government, with their party president still in detention.

The two-hour long meeting however did not take any specific decision of not participating in the dialogue, while deciding to observe Hasina’s ‘homecoming day’ on May 17.

All leaders, who spoke at the meeting, suggested since the issue is ‘very serious’ they should have elaborate discussions on the matter and analyse the situation in today’s scheduled meeting.

The meeting was held in detained AL president’s political office in Dhanmondi with Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury in the chair, where AL leaders Abdul Mannan, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Nurul Islam Nahid, Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, Advocate Fazle Rabbi, and Latif Siddiqui severely criticised the head of the government’s Monday speech to the nation.

Mannan, an organising secretary, told the meeting, when AL had an ‘unofficial’ dialogue with five government advisers, they assured the party of the CA’s speech reflecting the party’s five-point demand. “As nothing has been reflected in his speech, we will have to think deeply whether it will be logical to participate in the dialogues with the government again,” he told the meeting.

He also asked the meeting to fix a date for exchanging views with grassroots level leaders. Mannan suggested the meeting to think of launching a massive signature collection campaign and token hunger strike across the country demanding release of Hasina.

Mannan also expressed his astonishment at the CA’s speech and told the meeting that the speech is not acceptable, rather ‘insulting to politicians’.

“He has fixed a huge agenda in his speech paying no heed to our five-point demand,” he told the meeting.

Mannan observed that reaching a national consensus is such a huge task that it will be impossible to hold an election with such a sprit in two or three months. “Such a huge agenda must be taken up by an elected parliament,” he said.

Lenin told the meeting that trust between the government and political parties should be built before sitting for dialogues and prior to holding the election.

But the CA’s speech failed to move towards creating such an environment, he told the meeting. The CA even attached some pre-conditions for the dialogues and the election, which should have been discussed with all before announcement, he added.

Latif Siddiqui said the CA’s speech has disappointed the nation. “His speech is not acceptable,” he told the meeting.

The meeting decided to observe the AL chief’s ‘home coming day’ in a befitting manner, accepting Dr Abdur Razzak’s and Dr Hasan Mahmud’s proposal that ALCWC will be present at the gate of the special jail on the Jatiya Sangshad Bhaban premises on the day with bouquets of flowers as greetings for Hasina who has been kept detained there.

PRO-KHALEDA BNP
“He used many nice words but did not say anything about the issues significant to the nation,” Khandaker Delwar Hossain said at a news briefing after a meeting of the party’s central executive committee and front organisation leaders in his Nam flat in the capital.

He said release of detained party Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her sons was their main demand but the CA did not mention the issue in his speech.

While a ‘famine like situation’ exists in the country and the people are suffering due to price hikes of essentials, the chief adviser totally ignored the matters, he added.

JP-ERSHAD
JP Acting Chairman barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud said the CA’s speech failed to reflect the people’s desire as there is no specific date for holding the election and no guideline for overcoming the existing economic crises plaguing the country.

“It is also not clear on what basis the citizens’ charter will be formulated,” he said.

“Therefore, Jatiya Party is rejecting the chief adviser’s speech entirely,” Anisul said at a news conference in the party’s Banani office.

“We are also expressing no confidence in the caretaker government for its utter failure to run the country,” he added.

“Jatiya Party will stage token demonstrations in all districts and at the capital’s Diploma Engineers’ Institute on May 20, protesting the government’s failure to run the country and the chief adviser’s speech without any guideline,” Anisul said.

“On one hand, the chief adviser is talking about restoring democracy; on the other, he is talking about conditional indoor politics…while conditional politics cannot establish democracy,” Anisul said.

JSD
JSD in its reaction said through his speech the chief adviser failed to build any effective public confidence and failed to dispel confusions over holding of the election. The confusion has rather been buttressed after the chief adviser’s declaration of holding local government elections before the parliamentary poll.

CPB
CPB in its reaction said the people are disappointed at the chief adviser’s speech as he did not address issues including price hikes of essentials, unemployment, trials of war criminals, and lifting of EPR.

Criticising the government’s initiative to formulate a citizens’ charter, CPB said the country’s constitution, which the people earned in 1972, is the national charter.

Limited democracy or imposed democracy in the name of formulating citizens’ charter will hinder restoration of democracy, the communist party said at its presidium meeting in its Paltan office.

WORKERS PARTY
The Workers Party of Bangladesh (WP) said the CA’s speech on holding the national election and dialogues with political parties will create further public confusion.

It is clear that the state of emergency will not be lifted before the election, said WP leaders at a party meeting.

JAMAAT
Jamaat-e-Islami in its reaction said the CA gave the speech like that of an elected government with long-term plans without considering the responsibilities of an interim administration.

Terming the chief adviser’s speech ‘full of contradictions’, Jamaat said on the one hand the chief adviser said there will be no particular agenda for the dialogues, while on the other he mentioned some important issues as agenda for the dialogues.

BIKALPA DHARA
Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and its Secretary General Maj (retd) MA Mannan however welcomed the chief adviser’s speech saying, it reflected the government’s firm stand for holding the election.

LDP
LDP President Col (retd) Oli Ahmed also appreciated the chief adviser’s speech and lauded the government’s commitment to holding the election by the third week of December.

He, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the conditional lifting of the ban on ‘indoor politics’ and over not declaring any date for lifting the state of emergency.