BNP was forced to introduce the non-party caretaker government in the face of pressure from Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami in 1996, and now in the changed political scenario BNP has taken on the role of Awami League.
“They are requesting us to recall the hartal now. We in 1996 also made similar calls to withdraw hartal but the Awami League and Jamaat did not pay heed to us. This is nothing but a repetition of history,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP acting secretary general told the Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
In 1996 when BNP was in power, the then opposition Awami League and Jamaat-e-Islami waged a movement jointly to demand the staging of the election under a non-partisan government and they forced BNP to insert the provision into the constitution.
During that period, Sir Stephen Ninian, on behalf of the commonwealth, spent 42 days convincing the two leaders to form an interim government by drawing five politicians each from their respective parties with the then Prime Minister Khaleda Zia retaining her position. But the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina did not conform.
After around 17 years, the situation is just reversed and the opposition BNP is now clamouring for election under a non-partisan interim government, as the caretaker government system was declared null and void by the court and it was scrapped through the 15th amendment to the constitution.
The ruling Awami League, however, is saying the election will be held as per the constitution and there is no scope for handing over power to any unelected persons.
Saying the door of dialogue is still open, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the opposition to withdraw hartal and to promise before the nation for not waging hartal anymore.
Moudud Ahmed, a standing committee member, on Saturday said his party will move for a vigorous movement in the future following the prescription of the ruling Awami League.
Quoting different newspapers of 1994-95, Moudud said: “The then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina said no election will be held under this government (BNP). We are saying on Monday, no election under this government (AL). If the government does not come to the path of compromise and tries to hold the polls unilaterally BNP will have no other option except for waging tougher progorammes following Awami League’s prescription.”
Moudud, also a former law minister said Sheikh Hasina in 1994-95 said the then prime minister Khaleda Zia had to resign from the office after the announcement of election schedule. “Now we are saying the prime minister has to resign from the office after the announcement of the election schedule.”
When asked for immediate reaction to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s statement, Fakhrul said the government was staging dialogue drama to confuse the people of the country. “If they have the good intention of holding the dialogue then they have not made different kinds of comments on a single issue.”
Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Saturday said hartal would not be a problem for holding dialogue but on Sunday Ashraf said they would enter a dialogue only if the opposition withdrew the hartal.
The BNP-led 18-party allianceon Sunday announced another 60-hour countrywide hartal demanding elections under a non-partisan interim government.
MK Anwar, a standing committee member of the party, said they were ready to withdraw hartal and ready to promise not to enforce hartal in future if the government announced that the next election would be held under a non-partisan government.
“We will withdraw hartal if the government agrees to hold election under a non-partisan government,” MK Anwar told the Dhaka Tribune.
Terming the demand of election under a non-partisan government people’s demand, Anwar said there is way to backtrack from the demand.
