Awami League presidium member Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, MP, on Thursday urged the main opposition BNP to come up with a formula on the election time government in accordance with the country’s constitution for holding the next parliamentary polls. “You’re saying you wouldn’t take part in the polls under the partisan government. You are also saying you’ll participate in the election under a caretaker government, which is contradictory to the constitution. We can’t go beyond the constitution. Propose a formula as per the constitution,” he said.
Sheikh Selim, also a senior leader of the ruling party, made this appeal to BNP while speaking as the chief guest at a discussion meeting organised by Awami Juba League at the Gulistan Square in the city, with its chairman Omar Faruque Chowdhury in the chair.
The general election would be held in January next under an interim government and no one will be able to resist it, Selim said.
“In a verdict, the higher court pronounced that the caretaker government system is unconstitutional and illegal. So, there can’t be any unconstitutional and illegal law or provision in the constitution,” he added.
“The caretaker government is illegal and if the election is held under it, any citizen can file a writ petition in the court claiming that the election was not fair and then the election will come under question. So, there is no scope to revert to that system.”
Criticising some remarks of BNP leaders, Selim said, “BNP is shifting the blame of the August 21 incident on the shoulders of others by hatching conspiracies themselves. We (Awami League) don’t pursue the politics of conspiracy and killing. In a pre-planned way, the grenade attack was mounted on that day to kill Awami League President.”
He also remarked that BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir should be decorated with Nobel Prize for telling lies. “Mirza Fakhrul is a liar. I haven’t come across such a liar in my life. Mirza Fakhrul should be chosen for Nobel prize if there is any laurel for falsehood,” the AL leader added.
“BNP is not at all a democratic party,” Sheikh Selim said posing a question as to how a party could become a democratic one when it has been floated from cantonment.
Meanwhile, Suranjit Sengupta, minister without portfolio, has asked BNP acting secretary general Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to disclose the names of those who were involved in the August 21 grenade attack, if Tarique Rahman, son of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia, was not in it.
“Fakhrul Islam claimed that Tarique Rahman was not involved in the August 21 grenade attack. I would ask him (Fakhrul) to disclose the names of those who were behind the attack,” he told at a discussion meeting on Thursday.
The meeting was organised by by Bangabandhu Academy, a pro-ruling party body, at the Jatiya Press Club in the city, with Dhaka city Awami League joint general secretary Hazi Mohammad Selim in the chair.
“You (Fakhrul) have to tell who were involved in the August 21 grenade attack. Who have directed to commit such heinous attack? I hope you would make the matter clear to the nation through a press conference,” Suranjit, also an Awami League advisory committee member, said.
“The way Fakhrul said that Tarique Rahman was not involved in the grenade attack, reveals that he knows who were behind grenade attack. So he should make it clear as people want to know the truth. I hope he would speak the truth for the sake of democracy,” he added.
He also urged the government to complete the trial of the case with the tenure of the present Awami League government, by giving special attention to it.
Forest and Environment minister Dr Hasan Mahmud alleged that Tarique Rahman has committed the offence of the grenade attack on August 21, by taking permission from Khaleda Zia, the leader of the opposition.
“The grenade attack was done with the finance of Tarique Rahman. Both Tarique and Khaleda Zia are directly involved in the attack. Each witness has confessed it,” he asserted.