Eminent citizens yesterday urged the government to stop the January 5 election, as they believed that going ahead with a one-sided election would only serve to deepen the country’s political crisis.
The several dozen speakers at the dialogue on “Bangladesh in crisis and citizens’ thought,” jointly organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK), Sushasoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) in the capital’s Lakeshore hotel, were almost unanimous in their observation.
“The two top leaders of ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP have to understand that evil power is waiting to cash in on their conflict which ultimately may lead the country to religious fundamentalism,” said Syed Manzur Elahi, a businessman and former caretaker advisor. The government has to stop the lopsided polls which are going to be held without voters, he added.
Annisul Haque, former president of Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FBCCI), said the business sector of the country had suffered the most due to the continuous blockades.
In passionate tones, he painted a dire picture of the economic situation, saying that it was too late to find a solution to the current crisis, and that they should be talking about a solution to the country’s problems 10 years hence. The only solution to the current crisis, he suggested was to set oneself on fire and commit suicide.
Tapan Chowdhury, former advisor to the caretaker government expressed extreme concern over the existing political crisis.
The business leader said: “Two top leaders never think about the country’s future and economy. If they thought so, they would work out a compromise.”
He too decried the disastrous impact that the current crisis was having on the nation’s economy, wondering how employers like him would be able to pay the wages of his 44,000 employees and the catastrophe that this would cause for their 200,000 dependents. He pointed out that it was the workers who were suffering the most.
The civil society members also called upon the main opposition BNP to stop hartals and blockades and observed that such anti-government programmes were ruining the country’s economy as well claiming many lives.
In his address, Prof Anisuzzaman said people had been facing crisis prior to every national election, which was not healthy for the country’s development.
He maintained that the major political parties had to consider people’s interest first instead of their own narrow interest.
Echoing Anisuzzaman, CPD Chairman Prof Rehman Sobhan said this election would not bring any good result, rather deepen the existing crisis. He pointed out that the nation had been through a similar crisis in 1996 and called on the PM to not make the same mistake her counterpart had made then. Most discussants demanded that the election be stopped for being held in what they termed an “undemocratic” way.
However, Bangladesh Liberation War Museum Trustee Dr Sarwar Ali suggested that currently there was no way to stop the election as it had already been scheduled.
Iftekharuzzaman, executive director of TIB, suggested that people could boycott the election, holding symbolic hunger strike on January 5, the day of polls, to make the government understand that they were administering a meaningless election.
BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said they were ready to hold dialogue over the crisis for the sake of the country’s development provided the government showed a positive attitude.
Rashed Khan Menon, minister for Post and Telecommunications of the polls-time government, said the crisis had been created not only for the polls and democracy, but also for saving the war criminals though he pointed out that the issue, remarkably to his mind, had not been discussed at the forum.
The government started dialogue with the BNP several times, he said, but he blamed BNP for the breakdown in talks.