Chief adviser Yunus can't delay B'desh election for too long, says BNP

By Arun Devnath and Kai Schultz
 

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a key political group, has called on the interim government to open talks with politicians and hold national elections within a “reasonable time,” intensifying pressure on Muhammad Yunus, the leader of the new administration.
 

“People want to vote. There should be a diaogue between the political parties for the election,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the party, said in an interview in Dhaka Monday.

“People are willing to wait more than three months,” he said. “Probably, reasonable time should be given to the interim government, but not unreasonable time, like in the past — two or three years. I don’t think they will accept that.”

 

The BNP wants to avoid a repeat of the past, where an army-controlled caretaker government in 2006 stayed beyond its mandated three months and delayed the voting by about two years, bringing Sheikh Hasina back to power. Hasina’s government rescinded the caretaker system in 2011, making the subsequent elections less competitive and more favourable to her party, the Awami League.

In January this year, Hasina was voted back into power in a third stage-managed election. Her administration hollowed out the BNP by arresting and jailing numerous leaders and supporters, forcing the opposition group to boycott this year’s election. Khaleda Zia, leader of the BNP and a former prime minister, was kept imprisoned or sidelined for a decade, while her son Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the party, still lives in exile in London. Islam, 76, a senior leader of the BNP, was behind bars during the election.

Hasina resigned and fled to India on Aug. 5 following weeks of deadly protests by students calling for her to step down. Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, was appointed to head an interim government, backed by the military, and work towards holding elections. Under the constitution, voting must take place within 90 days. 

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, Yunus vowed to pave the way for a national election but failed to give a clear indication of how soon it will be held.

“When the election will be held is entirely a political decision, not ours,” Yunus said. “The countrymen will decide when we should leave. We came here, responding to students’ calls. They are the ones who appointed us and the people of the country supported our appointment. We will constantly remind everybody of this issue so that the question does not suddenly arise when we should go.”

As part of the reform agenda, the new government will reform the Election Commission and keep it ready to hold “ideal elections” at any time, Yunus said.

While Islam acknowledged the need for reforms to the Election Commission, Yunus’s speech without an election roadmap frustrated him.  

“It’s a vague, totally a vague statement,” Islam said, adding that Yunus has to invite the political parties to discuss the election roadmap. “He’s well respected in Bangladesh as well as in the entire world. But he’s not a politician. A state is run by politicians. A government is run by politicians,” he said.

“This is true that the new government must act as per the desire of the people. But what is the desire of the people and what is the way? How do you know the people? What do people want to say? So we think that Parliament is the only place where these things can be decided,” Islam said.

Bangladesh is grappling with a severe political turmoil. More than 600 people were killed during weeks-long violence, including reprisal attacks on Awami League leaders and supporters and minority Hindus. Some in Bangladesh blamed the BNP for fanning the flames, an accusation Islam rejected.

The situation is “already defused,” he said. He added that some people in the previous government and media outlets in India had whipped up sentiment around the issue that religious minorities were being targeted. 

“This is not a communal problem,” he said. “This was a political problem. It’s always a political party versus another political party, not the communal problems, not Hindu versus Muslims.”

Islam urged the international community to come forward to help restore democracy in Bangladesh. “They also came last time, but that should be more coordinated. They should support the present government until it goes for an election,” he said.