Khaleda reiterates call for dialogue with Bangladesh Government (Update-Khaleda)

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia on Saturday called upon the Awami League Government to immediately sit for talks with her party over holding parliamentary polls under a caretaker administration.

"BNP is a party of the countrymen. So, the government must sit for a dialogue with the party," the Daily Star quoted her, as saying at a rally at the Jamalpur Zila School ground this afternoon.

She was responding to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's firm refusal not have a mid-term poll or a dialogue with the BNP made during an interaction with Bangladeshi journalists in New York on the sidelines of the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

 

Saying fair elections are not possible under Awami League government, the BNP chief once again demanded general election under a caretaker administration.

Khaleda, also head of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, threatened to wage a tougher anti-government movement after the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.

Stating that they did not make any mistake by boycotting the January 5, she warned that the Awami League has to pay for holding the voter-less election.

Terming Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) 'a killer force', the BNP chief reiterated her demand for disbanding the crime busting unit of police.

Saying that over 300 people of her party had been killed by the RAB, other law enforcement agencies and Awami League cadres, she said the RAB cannot continue any more.

The former prime minister called upon police to work as friends of the people and not to execute the government's orders if they are directed to abduct or kill people.

The BNP-led alliance organised the rally to drum up public support for its demand for the scrapping of the Judge Impeachment Bill and holding fresh parliamentary election under a non-party administration.

Saturday's rally was Begum Khaleda Zia's fifth since the January 5 one-sided election boycotted by the BNP-led alliance.

Earlier, the BNP chief held rallies in Rajbari, Munshiganj, Dinajpur and Brahmanbaria to drum up public support in favor of the alliance's demand.