Amid doubts over the elections slated for February, Awami League Executive Committee Member and former state minister Mohammad Ali Arafat has said that the party will not allow a one-sided election.
โThe election will take place; it definitely will. However, a one-sided election that excludes more than 50% of the voters will not happen and will not be allowed,โ he said in a post on X on Sunday night, when Muhammad Yunus invited the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and National Citizen Party (NCP) to Jamuna to assure them of holding the polls in February.
After the meeting, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the 13th National Parliament election will be held next February. The chief adviser agrees on this. The countrymen are also assured of this, he added.
Without mentioning Jamaat, he alleged that a force is trying to delay the election. However, there is no chance of postponing the election. The election will be held on the date that has been announced as the election date.
In a briefing after the meeting, Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Muhammad Taher said that Yunusโ meeting with the BNP acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, in London and announcing the election date in February is an unprecedented incident.
Taher said that the chief adviser talked about free and fair elections. They agreed with Yunus but disagreed on the effectiveness. He said that questions have been raised in the public mind about whether the country is moving towards a blueprint election or not.
His party is pressing for the proportional representation system in the election alongside the NCP, the Kingโs party, which demands elections to the Constituent Assembly first to enact a new Constitution and give legal basis to the July Charter.
NCP Senior Joint Convener Ariful Islam Adeeb told reporters that for the legal basis and constitutional basis of the July Charter, the next election must be a Constituent Assembly election to permanently resolve the 55-year-long crisis in Bangladesh, the autocratic attitude or structure that is centred on a single individual, and that will formulate a new Constitution.
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On the demand for a ban on the Jatiya Party (JaPa), led by GM Quader, both Jamaat and NCP asked Yunus to follow suit, like in May when it temporarily banned the political activities of the Awami League in an executive order, following which the Election Commission suspended its registration.
The Gono Odhikar Parishad (GOP) of Nurul Haque Nur has also been demanding a ban on JaPa and the arrest of its chairman, GM Quader, terming him a collaborator of the Awami League.
โPolls under caretaker governmentโ
Recently, Awami League President and five-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina demanded the resignation of Yunus and polls under a neutral caretaker government. She also blamed him for mob attacks, illegal occupation and persecuting the party members in false and fictitious cases, plundering public money and rehabilitating the jihadists and anti-liberation elements, like Jamaat.
She also gave a 21-point charter for demands and vowed to bring the criminals to justice once her party returns to power.
Last week, Arafat, a former State Minister for Information and Broadcasting, slammed BNPโs Mirza Fakhrul as he claimed that business tycoon S Alam Group gave the Awami League Tk25 billion for hatching a conspiracy to foil the elections.
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โSuch an allegation is entirely baseless. Besides, what election is Mr. Alamgir referring to? Is it the one-sided, prearranged, and rigged election in which his party dreams of a landslide victory by depriving the people of their voting rights? His claim is absolutely unfounded,โ Arafat said in a post on X on Wednesday.
โThe Awami League is not attempting to foil the election; rather, it is working to ensure a free, fair, and inclusive processโsomething desired by both the people of the country and the international community.โ
Arafat said that in a truly inclusive election, where all parties are guaranteed a level playing field, the Awami League is confident of winning once again. โWhy would we seek to obstruct an election that would return us to government through the peopleโs mandate?
โIt is, in fact, Mr. Alamgir and his party are trying to deprive voters of their democratic rights and seize power by conspiring to hold a rigged election that excludes the Awami League, the Jatiya Party, and the 14-Party Alliance.โ
In an interview with Berlin-based DW, Arafat said: โThe Awami League is the peopleโs party, the party that led the Liberation War. It will always return to the people. Whatever apologies or regrets we have will be addressed to the people.
โA group of NGO-backed individuals has taken power by force. If the Awami League apologises or seeks forgiveness, it will be to the people of Bangladesh.โ
Responding to a question about public support, he said: โYou will have your answer in a few days. Militants, war criminals, and communal forces were brought together. Imperial powers poured in money; everything was meticulously designed. Bodies piled up one after another. Peopleโs minds were poisoned; anger was stoked. Now, a year later, the majority of the nation has realised they were betrayed.โ
Arafat said: โThe Awami League did not want more deaths, so it stepped down from power. If it had wanted, it could have stayed in power through killings. But Awami League is the party of the peopleโit did not want that.โ
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