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Published : 30 May 2013, 08:26 AM
The BNP will attend the budget session of the parliament but will not place its demand for a neutral government in the house, BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed said.
“Our demand is clear – restoration of the neutral [caretaker] government system which was in the Constitution,” he said, stressing it will be raised only in a formal dialogue.
“We will only respond if the government calls us for dialogue to discuss the possible head of the non-party caretaker government to conduct the parliament polls,” Ahmed said.
“What they [the government] do is only talk. But they don’t have any interest in a formal dialogue. They don’t want it for real,” Moudud said after paying respects at the grave of party founder Ziaur Rahman on his death anniversary.
“If the government had wanted the talks, our MPs and senior party leaders MK Anwar and Barkat Ullah Bulu would not have been arrested when the parliament session is about to begin. How will the dialogue be successful if our leaders stay in jail?," the former Law Minister said.
“They will have to meet the demand of a non-party government which must oversee the next parliamentary elections. The government will be better off if it understands the reality and accepts our demand," he added.
BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir alleged the government was not listening to our party chief’s repeated calls for talks to end the political crisis.
“Their stubbornness has caused this crisis. We still hope that the government will come to its senses and hold the dialogue over the caretaker government issue.”
“The opposition leaders and activists are in jail. They must be released to create the suitable environment for the dialogue. The government will have to take the steps to ensure that the next election is held under a non-partisan government system,” Fakhrul said.
Both leaders spoke after paying floral tributes on the grave of late President Ziaur Rahman on his 32nd death anniversary at the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar along with party Chairperson Khaleda Zia and other senior BNP leaders.
While speaking with the reporters, Mirza Fakhrul claimed the present Awami League-led government has always refused the main opposition’s offer of assistance to run the country since it took office.
"We have been asking to find a way out of this crisis through discussion, he said, adding, “the government did not listen.”
He said the government was ruling the country on the lines of the one-party BAKSAL (of Mujibur Rahman's time). "It is repressing, killing and arresting those who are critical of its actions."
Our movement for the non-party poll-time government has not stopped, he said. “Our leaders and activists will continue the movement even after all the government’s repression.”
