Bangladesh News

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Abdul Jalil has finally decided to stay away from politics for now following party President Sheikh Hasina’s ‘advice due to his ailments’.

Jalil’s latest decision ends AL’s recent quandary for now, about who is going to be the general secretary, letting Joint General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam keep acting as the general secretary until the party chief, now in the US for treatment, returns home.

Meanwhile, the party’s Acting President Zillur Rahman yesterday said Hasina will not sit for any dialogue with anyone before her release on parole is made unconditional and permanent.

“As party President Sheikh Hasina advised me to take rest for a few days, I will do so,” Jalil told reporters in his Gulshan residence in the capital yesterday.

Earlier he had announced that he would be back in politics as the general secretary of AL after the High Court had granted him a 40-day ad interim bail on September 10.

But yesterday he visited Zillur Rahman in the latter’s Gulshan residence and conveyed Hasina’s ‘advice’ to him.

The day after Jalil’s previous announcement Zillur Rahman said it was not Jalil but Ashraf would be the one to continue as the party’s acting general secretary, signalling a discord within the party regarding the matter.

Zillur said on Friday that ‘due to technical reasons’ Jalil could not be reinstated as the general secretary.

“I talked to the party chief over the phone on Friday night. She wanted to know about my health and the treatment. She expressed her concern about my health, and advised me to take rest. I will be active in politics again after taking the necessary rest the party chief wants me to take,” Jalil said yesterday.

“She talked affectionately to me and told me not to worry. Her suggestions and advice are inviolable to me,” Jalil added.

Asked, who will be the general secretary of the party, Jalil said, “The question has been solved. Of course Ashraf will work as the general secretary.”

HASINA WONT SIT WITH ANYONE RIGHT NOW
Talking to journalists in his residence after exchanging views with Jubo League leaders, Zillur said, “Our chief is yet to be released permanently. Detained Sheikh Hasina won’t talk to anybody until her release is made permanent.”

“A meeting between Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia can only be held when the two are treated equally under the country’s law. Let her be freed first and then she will decide what to do,” he said.

Coming down heavily on the caretaker government, the acting AL chief said the state of emergency was promulgated to suppress democratic movements and to take away political rights.

“Our patience is running thin. We are now thinking of forging a movement on the street demanding that our party chief’s release is made unconditional and permanent, and that the national election is held before any other election,” he said.

He also criticised the government for releasing ‘the main players behind the massive corruption’ while continuing to confine pro-liberation honest people in jails.

“The political changeover of 1/11 was a result of Awami League’s movement against corruption and irregularities. But the change did not bring anything good for Awami League as its leaders and workers were thrown into jails and tortured,” Zillur blasted out.

He asked the government to free all AL detainees, including its central leaders Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, and Juba League Chairman Jahangir Kabir Nanak and General Secretary Mirza Azam.

Asked when Hasina might return, Zillur said she might return in the last week of this month or after the Eid.

AL Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu said Tarique Rahman’s resignation from the post of BNP senior joint secretary general has proven his guilt.

“His resignation is a step toward driving graft and terrorism out of the body politic,” Amu said adding that there is no need to keep the jail gates closed anymore since Tarique was released.

“How unfortunate it is! Tarique Rahman who is the champion of corruption is free while the country’s brave sons like Nanak and Azam are still in jails facing false allegations of corruption,” he added.