JOF ultimatum to Iajuddin

Dhaka, Nov 26 (bdnews24.com)- Jatiya Oikya Front (JOF) Sunday gave caretaker chief Iajuddin Ahmed 12 hours to resign or face its scheduled sit-in programme around the Bangabhaban on a one- point demand.

JOF coordinator retired major Abdul Mannan announced the ultimatum at a press briefing at the LDP presidium office in Baridhara.

Mannan said "We put forward our one-point demand on Friday, if the caretaker chief had seriously considered it, we might have withdrawn the programme. But he did not do so. That is why we are forced to go forward with the programme."

Mannan, who is also secretary general of the LDP, said that the people were worried over the news that 44 senior civil servants had had a secret meeting at the Uttara business office of former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman.

He also said that acting CEC Justice Mahfuzur Rahman had been repeatedly saying he would announce the election schedule in two or three days which meant that Justice Mahfuz was trying to do so without any discussion with the caretaker government or the major political parties.

Saying that former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and other leaders of the 4-party alliance have been creating continuous pressure for announcement of the election schedule Mannan wanted to know whether the election commission was working as per the directives of the alliance.

Later, speaking at the same venue, LDP president Badruddoza Chowdhury mentioned former PM Khaleda Zia's saying that CEC MA Aziz was and would remain the polls chief. He said she was no one to say such a thing as only the government could decide whether Aziz would continue or not.

Referring to Khaleda Zia's call to doctors of the Doctors Association of Bangladesh (DAB) not to take fees from the patients but to seek votes for 4-party candidates, Chowdhury said she should have kept in mind that 80 per cent of the members of DAB were government servants, and hence they could not seek vote for any particular party. The former president said that if they were involved in election-related duty and responded to Khaleda Zia's call it could bring into question the legality of the election.

Regarding the senior civil servants who had had a secret meeting with former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman at Uttara, Badruddoza Chowdhury said that if it had been just a social gathering they would not have hidden their faces the way they did. He demanded punishment of those involved in the 'conspiracy'.

LDP central leaders Alamgir Kabir and Redwan Ahmed were also present.

bdnews24.com/eh/rm/2029 hrs