Leader of the opposition and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia said on Thursday that her party can sit for discussion only if the Awami League-led government retracts its decision to rescind the election-
time caretaker government provision.
Referring to the prime minister's call to propose a new 'formula' in place of the CG system, Khaleda said emphatically at a media briefing in her Gulshan office, 'There is no need to propose any new formula. Our stand is clear — the caretaker government provision shall be retained in the form it now exists in the Constitution.'
Khaleda convened the media briefing to reveal her party's stand on the caretaker government issue following the government's repeated calls to suggest a new formula.
'It is now their turn to take a decision. We will not take part in any elections held under a political government,' reiterated Khaleda.
'We will sit for discussion on the appointment of the chief adviser and about how the Election Commission and the administration can be reconstituted to make them neutral, but before that the government will have to make it clear that the caretaker government provision will be retained,' she said.
Accusing the government of 'conspiring to hold the next polls under its regime' by 'misinterpreting' the court's verdict, Khaleda said in a resolute voice, 'Our movement will continue to resist the government's attempt to hold the polls under a political government. We want to ensure the people's right to vote freely in a fair election.'
'The prime minister is creating a smokescreen by giving a wrong interpretation of the court's verdict of the 13th Amendment so that she can hold the next polls with her own people at the helm,' Khaleda alleged.
'The Appellate Division's verdict did not declare the caretaker government provision illegal from this moment. This provision will lose its legitimacy only after the holding of the next two polls under it,' she argued.
Khaleda quoted excerpts from the verdict to substantiate her stance. 'The Constitution (Thirteenth Amendment) Act 1996 is prospectively declared void and ultra vires of the Constitution,' she said. 'The second part of verdict reads: "The election to the Tenth and Eleventh Parliaments may be held under the provisions of the above mentioned Thirteenth Amendment on the age-old principles".'
Referring to the ruling party's call to join Parliament, Khaleda said, 'The BNP always wants the Jatiya Sangsad to be a functional one. We never said we will not join Parliament despite the fact that the government has made it dysfunctional.'
Khaleda termed the government's urging them to participate in parliamentary proceedings a 'farce' as they were not allowed to speak in the Sangsad.
In reply to a question, Khaleda reiterated that BNP would not accept introduction of the electronic voting system.
When she was asked whether or not her party would accept former chief justice Khairul Haque as the next chief adviser, Khaleda said that he was partisan. 'We will not accept him as the chief adviser.'
'There are more provisions in the system that deal with the selection and appointment of the chief adviser, which we can sit down to discuss with the government,' she told reporters.
BNP has been repeating that it would not join the next general elections if the caretaker government system was scrapped after the prime minister recently said it was not possible to retain the system as the court had annulled it.
The BNP enforced a 36-hour hartal and is planning a long movement to force the government to withdraw its decision to scrap the caretaker government system.
source:NewAge
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