Oikya Front will decide on talks with govt once it knows agenda: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir says that the Jatiya Oikya Front will decide whether it will join a fresh round of talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina once the agenda has been set.

Currently, the party’s ‘main agenda’ is the cancellation of the 11th national parliamentary election and a fresh election under the supervision of a neutral government, he said.

The BNP leader made the statement after a visit to the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal in Sylhet on Monday afternoon.

Jatiya Oikya Front leaders are in Sylhet to pay their respects to the family of a Chhatra Dal leader killed in violence on election day.

Mirza Fakhrul, JSD’s ASM Abdur Rab, Krishak Sramik Janata League’s Kader Siddique and Gono Forum’s Mostofa Mohsin Montu and Subrata Chowdhury arrived at Sylhet’s Osmani International Airport at 11:30 am. They then visited the shrine.

Reporters asked Fakhrul about the prime minister’s plans to hold talks afterwards.

“The prime minister has called for talks,” Fakhrul said. “But if they go the way they did before it will be meaningless.”

“We do not yet know the agenda of the talks. We have only one agenda – the cancellation of the election. Once we learn the agenda, the Oikya Front will discuss the matter.”

The Awami League has formed a third consecutive government after a landslide victory in the Dec 30 polls. The Oikya Front, which won only eight seats, has announced that they are boycotting the polls and have called for a fresh election to be held as soon as possible. Kamal Hossain, on behalf of the alliance, has also announced a ‘national dialogue’ on the matter.

After the announcement of the programme, the prime minister invited all parties and alliances that met with her before the polls to another round of talks.

The Jatiya Oikya Front, formed under the leadership of Gono Forum President Kamal Hossain, announced a seven-point list of demands before the election and had called for talks with Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina unexpectedly answered the call and also met with various other parties and leaders.

Mirza Fakhrul described the 11th national parliamentary election as a ‘scandalous chapter’ in the history of democracy.

“The rights of the people have been snatched away through these polls,” he said. “The constitution has been violated. The verdict of the people has been stolen.”

“We are demanding a new election that allows space for the exercising of people’s rights.”

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has begun preparations for upazila council elections.

Asked whether the BNP would participate in the upazila polls, Fakhrul said.

“The local government elections are not very important. The Election Commission we have is unacceptable. Everyone saw the kind of election they organised. There is no need to question what kind of election they would hold going forward.”

The Oikya Front leaders then went to Baliganj to the home of deceased Chhatra Dal leader Sayem Ahmed Suheil to pay their condolences to the family.