The government’s decision to arrest five top opposition leaders is a signal to the “trouble makers” that anyone obstructing the elections will face imprisonment.
A number of senior leaders of the ruling Awami League have said no matter whoever comes, polls must take place by January 24.
The comments could be indications that the two parties were almost incapable of resolving the political impasse over the restoration of the non-party caretaker government system.
The ruling party leaders also said the arrest of the opposition leaders and cordoning off the residence of opposition chief Khelada Zia and her political aides were aimed at convincing people that the government – even at the end of its tenure –was fully in control of law and order despite the hartals.
Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir has recently hinted that the government might enact a law to realise compensation from those who called the hartals if they led to the death of people and damage of wealth.
“The BNP, Jamaat, Jatiya Party or anyone standing in the way of holding the next [parliamentary] polls in a free, fair and impartial manner would face this sort of consequences [arrest],” Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, an organising secretary of the Awami League, told the Dhaka Tribune.
If anyone challenges the constitution and the laws – according to which elections must take place by January 24 – the government must take action against them, he said. “We must make people understand that there is a government in this country.”
Mohammad Nasim, a member of the Awami League Presidium, the highest policymaking body of the party, told the Dhaka Tribune that the BNP was not sure of what it wanted. “The BNP did not want a dialogue.”
“The government is determined to hold the polls in line with the constitution, in free, fair and unbiased ways.
“We hope that the BNP will come to the polls; otherwise they will miss the election train. We are not bothered about who is going to participate. The elections must take place under an administration headed by Sheikh Hasina,” Nasim said.
In a party meeting on Saturday, Awami League Joint Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said those giving rise to violence and damaging people’s property would not be spared, no matter how big a leader they were.
“Is bringing those ordering destruction of public and private property under law an offenc? The violence makers must be arrested for the sake of the nation,” Hanif said.
In the same meeting, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, another joint secretary of the party, said the government would be forced to take a tougher stance if the opposition caused violence in the name of hartal.
“For the sake of maintaining law and order, there was no option left [for the government] other than arresting those who had given orders for violence,” he said.
On Friday, police picked up BNP standing committee members Barrister Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar and Rafiqul Islam Miah, BNP chairperson’s Advisor Abdul Awal Mintoo and Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas from the capital.
Since then, most other top leaders of the party, including acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, have reportedly gone into hiding to escape arrest. Some of the leaders have been kept under de facto house arrest. On April 7 this year, 10 top leaders, including Mirza Fakhrul, were sent to jail for arson attacks on vehicles during hartals.
