The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Saturday renewed her call to the
opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party to join the all-party
election-time government and contest the general elections.
‘The elections will be free and fair. How many ministries do you [BNP]
want? If you want the home ministry, we are even ready to give it to
you. Come and join the polls,’ she said while addressing the 41st
founding anniversary of Awami Juba League in the city’s Suhrawardy
Udyan.
Hasina said that she would not allow any extra-constitutional forces to usurp power or any unconstitutional process.
‘The next election must be held in accordance with the constitution and
the BNP would not be able to resist the polls whatever attempts it
makes,’ she added.
The prime minister said that she had compromised a lot for the sake of a
free, fair and participatory election but it was opposition leader
Khaleda Zia who did not want the election to take place.
Accusing the BNP chief of unleashing terror and ordering killings in the
name of hartal and blockade, Hasina wanted know what the opposition
leader wanted to achieve by killing people.
‘If you [Khaleda] want to wage movement, please come out in the street
…We will face each other in the street and test each other’s power,’ she
said.
The prime minister strongly condemned the arson attacks on buses and
burning of people and said that the opposition leader had lost her
humanity in her lust for power. ‘Please stop burning people. You
[Khaleda] would not be able to stand the sight when people would start
retaliating and burning the persons involved in instructing arson
attacks and killing of people,’ she warned.
Sheikh Hasina, also the AL president, blasted the civil society members
who had met with the president, saying that some of them were advisers
to the last caretaker government and it was their failure that had led
to the events of 1/11.
She alerted Juba League leaders and activists to the subversive
activities of BNP-Jamaat and asked them to build up resistance against
‘the BNP-led anti-liberation forces’ across the country to protect the
lives and property of the people.
Juba League chairman Omar Faruk Chowdhury presided over the discussion
addressed by land minister Amir Hossain Amu, AL presidium member Sheikh
Fazlul Karim Selim, joint general secretary Jahangir Kabir Nanak and
Juba League general secretary M Harunur Rashid.
Earlier, the prime minister unveiled the cover of a book titled
‘Struggle for Democracy’. Dhaka University vice-chancellor AAMS Arefin
Siddique took part the discussion on the book which features the life
and struggle of Sheikh Hasina. (source)