BNP Standing Committee member Mirza Abbas says that only one person is against holding the national election by December.
Abbas spoke to reporters on Friday after paying his respects at the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman in Dhaka`s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on his 44th death anniversary, reports bdnews24.com.
Responding to a statement made by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus about the election timeline during his ongoing visit to Japan, Abbas said: “It is with great regret that I saw Muhammad Yunus disparaging the BNP while sitting in Japan. He felt no shame in speaking negatively about the country while abroad. He claimed that only one party wants elections.”
“But what we want to say is that it’s not one party, but rather one person, who doesn’t want elections. And that person is Dr Yunus himself.”
During an event in Tokyo, the head of Bangladesh`s interim government reiterated the December-June time frame for conducting the upcoming national election.
He added that it was not all political parties in Bangladesh, but “only one party” that wanted the election to take place in December.
Criticising the comment, Abbas said: “The BNP has consistently demanded elections be held by December. That timeline was originally proposed by Dr Yunus himself. Later, he shifted his position to June.”
“If elections are pushed to June, they won`t be held at all. Therefore, if elections are to take place, they must happen by December.”
He continued, “We, along with the people of this country, will ensure that the election is held. Otherwise, the territorial integrity of Bangladesh will not remain intact.”
“You must have noticed that this government has brought in many people from abroad in the name of reforms. Today, I want to proudly say that martyred president Ziaur Rahman carried out numerous reforms in various sectors of Bangladesh, but he never brought in foreign consultants. Now, in the name of reforms, things have reached a point where they no longer want to hold elections.”
He added that on behalf of party chief Khaleda Zia, her son and Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, and the party, they offered prayers for Zia at his grave and sought prayers from the people of the country.
