The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party said on Sunday that until the people’s demand of an election under a party-neutral election-time government was achieved, their peaceful and nonviolent movement would continue.
‘We deeply value the international community’s support in our struggle for the restoration of rights and freedoms, which can be ensured through an election held under a neutral, non-party election-time government,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said while addressing an iftar party in honour of diplomats posted in Dhaka at a city hotel.
‘Unless and until we achieve that, people’s peaceful and nonviolent movements will continue,’ he added.
Diplomats from 38 countries and international organisations joined the iftar party.
The British high commissioner in Dhaka, Sarah Cooke, the United States charge d’affaires, Helen Lafave, Pakistan high commissioner Syed Ahmed Maroof, Australia acting high commissioner Nardir Simpson, Canada high commissioner Lilly Nicholls, German ambassador Achim Trqster, India deputy high commissioner Binoy George, European Union charge d’affaires Brend Spanier, and China deputy ambassador Yan Hualong joined the ifter party, among others.
Addressing the programme, Fakhrul said that Bangladesh was facing a deep political and economic crisis.
‘We have assembled here for iftar at a time when the country has again fallen under the clutches of the on-going fascist regime,’ he said, adding that the world was aware that what transpired on January 7 in Bangladesh was not an election, but a disgrace to the nation’s democratic aspirations.
‘The blatant rigging, irregularities, and violence orchestrated by the ruling regime were evident from the media reports, images, real-time videos captured on the spot, and reports of election engineering from across the country,’ he said.
In the meantime, the international community also dubbed this dummy election, held in a highly polarised political environment and lacking genuine competition, as farcical and not meeting key international standards, he observed.
‘Thousands of political leaders and activists, including [BNP] standing committee members, were incarcerated on politically motivated false and fabricated charges,’ he said.
However, the resounding rejection, as evident from a microscopic voter turnout, served as a public mandate for our relentless struggle to reinstate democracy and a referendum on the resignation of the ruling regime and a fresh election, he added.
‘On behalf of the democracy-loving people of Bangladesh, we thank you very much for standing by the side of the vast majority of 180 million Bangladeshis seeking fundamental voting rights, equality, justice, and fairness,’ he said.
The BNP leader also expressed concern about the inhumane killing of the innocent civilian population by Israeli forces in Palestine.
