BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia warned yesterday that hartals, blockades and a non-cooperation movement would be waged if the government did not hold a dialogue about holding fresh elections under a non-partisan government.
However, the former prime minister also said the election had to be held under a nonpartisan arrangement even if the talks never took place.
“For the time being, there will be no hartal. But we will announce all sorts of programmes after Eid and if the government creates any obstacle, we will be compelled to announce tougher programmes,” she said in front of thousands of cheering BNP leaders and activists at the RB High School playground in Joypurhart.
Despite heavy downpours, thousands of people attended Khaleda’s rally. Joypurhat district BNP organised the rally to drum up public support in favour of the demand for an election under a non-partisan interim government and protesting the recent spike in killings, abductions and forced disappearances.
She said they would accept whoever came to power if the election was overseen by a neutral body.
She claimed that her party and allies represented 95% of the country’s people, who heeded their boycott call and refrained from casting their votes in the January 5 election.
Referring to a recent High Court verdict that declared the 154 MPs elected unopposed to be legal, Khaleda said: “No matter what the court says, the 154 MPs are not legal people’s representatives.”
If the 154 unelected MP’s are legal, then why should 11 unelected advisers of a caretaker government not be legal?” Khaleda inquired.
Terming the government corrupt, she said the ruling party men had been plundering money from the Padma bridge fund, the share market and other organisations and siphoning it off to foreign banks such as the Swiss Bank.
She demanded an impartial probe body to investigate into the matter and criticised the Anti-Corruption Commission, terming it “one-eyed” and “blind.”
Khaleda also slammed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who recently said the BNP founder, late Ziaur Rahman, had blocked her from entering the country three decades ago.
“It is totally false. It was Ziaur Rahman who brought you [Hasina] back to the country… You signed a paper after you received all the valuables and properties of your family, except arms,” the former premier reminded the current premier.
She also said there was a connection between Hasina’s homecoming and Ziaur Rahman’s murder.
“You returned to the country on May 17 [1981] and Ziaur Rahman was murdered 13 days later… on May 30. When the country’s people were in a sombre mood and busy taking part in his funeral, you tried to cross the border wearing a veil. Why? You did it because you were afraid, because you might have been involved with the killing,” she said.
She once again echoed her son Tarique Rahman who said Ziaur Rahman, and not Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, had proclaimed independence as the first president of Bangladesh.
The former premier also claimed that the government had been unnerved by the recent change in power in India. “The Awami League leaders are making unguarded remarks because they are very nervous and disappointed with the change of government of India,” she stated.
Khaleda said the government had been sponsoring godfathers such as Shamim Osman, Joynal Hazari and Nizam Hazari and humiliating Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.
While briefly laying out her plans if she returned to power, the BNP chief said the highest importance would be given to agriculture and ICT.
“Once we return to power, we will create an investment friendly environment by ensuring all the utility services, other facilities and security for foreign and local investors,” she said.
Reiterating her demand for the disbandment of RAB, Khaleda said the government had turned the elite force into a killer force.
