Govt says elections number one priority: Mirza Fakhrul

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said his party once again demanded a roadmap for elections during the dialogue with chief adviser to the interim government Muhammad Yunus.

The chief adviser informed them that the number one priority of the interim government is to hold the elections, he said while speaking to newsmen after an hour-long dialogue with the government at the state guesthouse Jumana around 4:00 pm on Saturday.

A six-member delegation of BNP entered Jumana around 2:30 pm to join the dialogue. The other members of the delegation are: BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Abdul Moyeen Khan and Salahuddin Ahmed.

On the other hand, advisers Hasan Arif, Adilur Rahman Khan, special assistant to the chief advisor Mahfuz Alam joined the dialogue with the chief advisor.

After emerging from the dialogue, Mirza Fakhrul said they had an hour-long discussion with the chief adviser, and issues related to election, electoral system reform and commission mainly dominate their discussion.

Saying that they demanded the roadmap to election again during the dialogue, the BNP secretary general said, “We have told them to present a roadmap on the election deadline.”

BNP also demanded revoking the law on handing over the national identity card project to the home ministry enacted by the past government. Mirza Fakhkrul said they also demanded that no controversial individual is included in electoral system reform committee.

He further said they also demanded bring the individuals including chief election commissioners and election commissioners, who had organised three controversial and fake elections since 2014, to book.

BNP also demanded to bring former Justice Khairul Haque to book. “We think Justice Khairul Haque is the mastermind of destroying the electoral system because this justice played the pivotal role in destroying the electoral system by delivering the verdict on the annihilation of caretaker government system. We asked the government to take action against him on sedition charges,” Mirza Fakhrul said.

The BNP secretary general said many worked as the friends of the fascist government and aided in lootings and tortures. Besides, many people who assisted in enforced disappearances, killings and genocide still hold their positions and these people must be removed and replaced by neutral people, he added.