Monday, November 28, 2011

No polls without caretaker, army deployment: Khaleda

 The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, addresses a rally at Jessore Eidgah Maidan on Sunday on the concluding day of the party’s road march towards the southern part of the country. — New Age photo

Khadimul Islam and Saifur Rahman . Khulna


The Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson, Khaleda Zia, on Sunday said that national elections would not be accepted without a caretaker government and without deployment of army troops.


 ‘We will not accept any


vote under the Awami League government. National elections without a caretaker government and without deployment of army troops will not be allowed in the country,’ she told a huge rally at Khulna.


 Khaleda, also leader of the opposition in parliament, said that the country’s sovereignty was at stake and urged the Awami League-led government to step down if it was unable to take bold steps over the issue of the Tipaimukh dam.


 She reassured the government that her party would extend support if it takes a tough stance against the Tipaimukh dam. ‘If the government cannot drive a hard bargain, nobody would give the country anything,’ she said.


 She vowed not to allow any move to construct the controversial dam on the River Barak until a joint survey and technical assessment was conducted by Bangladesh and India at Tipaimukh.


 Khaleda wrapped up her third road march by holding a public rally on the Khulna Circuit House premises. She termed the large attendance at her rallies and wayside meetings ‘a sign of mass awakening’. ‘The mass awakening will turn into a popular uprising against the government,’ she hoped.


 The former prime minister urged the locals to build resistance against a joint-venture project with India for setting up of a coal-based power plant at Rampal in Bagerhat. ‘We [BNP and allies] and environmentalists will stand by you to stop the move for building the power plant which will threaten the biodiversity in Sundarban,’ she added..


 ‘The government should be ousted to save the country and democracy,’ she said, calling on the people to join the anti-government movement.


 Khaleda, addressing another rally in Jessore Eidgah Maidan, urged the people to decide whether they would oust the Awami League-led government or lose the country’s sovereignty.


 ‘The county will lose its independence and sovereignty if the Awami League government remains in power. The government is doing everything to turn Bangladesh into a province of India,’ she alleged.


 ‘The government is taking loan at high interests from the neighbouring country for construction of roads for transport of Indian transit goods, but no roads are being made for the people of the country,’ she said.


Khaleda said that the people were not ready to pay the interest on loans taken for the interest of another country. She urged the government to construct roads for development of the country by the money taken as loan from India.


 The BNP chief accused the government of politicising the judiciary, civil, military and police administrations and criticised it for axing a good number civil, military and police officers from jobs out of political vengeance.


 She said the BNP-led alliance, if voted to power, would reinstate those ‘illegally terminated’ by the government.


 Khaleda alleged that India was planning to transport heavy equipment through Akhaura for gas exploration and construction of the Tipaimukh dam.  ‘No such heavy equipment will be allowed to be transported through Akharua at our cost,’ she said.


 The BNP-led alliance organised the road mach aiming to mobilise public support for the opposition’s key demands, including restoration of the caretaker government system which was scrapped through the 15th Amendment to the Constitution in June this year.


 Senior leaders of BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Liberal Democratic Party and other components of the alliance also addressed the rallies.


 Khaleda began the road march on Saturday from the capital’s Uttara area. BNP and its allies set up hundreds of arches on the route of the march to welcome the leader of the opposition.


The convoy led by Khaleda began its journey on the second day from the Jessore Circuit House around 11:25am after staying there overnight. After the rally, the caravan went to Bagerhat where Khaleda offered fateha at Khan Jahan Ali’s shrine.  


She urged the government to take immediate steps for procurement of paddy and rice as the price of aman paddy had fallen drastically during the pick season of harvest.


She pledged to construct two bridges on the River Padma – one at the present site and another connecting Daulatdia and Paturia – if BNP was voted to power in the next polls.


People lined the road at places as the convoy headed for Khulna. They chanted slogans, clapped and showered petals as the caravan passed.


Khaleda led her first road march to Sylhet on October 10 and the second to Chapainawabganj on October 18.


Source: newagebd.com/newspaper1


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