Oikya Front vows to hold its Sylhet rally 24 Oct
Newly forged Jatiya Oikya Front in a meeting on Friday vowed to hold its rally in Sylhet on 24 October if the permission was denied again.
“The meeting decided that the Oikya Front leaders will go to Sylhet on 24 October even if they are not allowed to hold their rally,” UNB quoted Gano Forum general secretary Mostafa Mohsin Montu as saying.
He briefed newsmen after a meeting of senior leaders of the new alliance. The meeting that began around 4pm at Oikya Front and Nagorik Oikya leader Mobarak Hossain's Dhanmondi residence continued for nearly three hours.
He said they hope the government will give them permission within a day or two to hold the public rally.
"We'd sought permission for holding our rally in Sylhet on 23 October, but the government didn't permit us. We've now decided to hold the programme on 24 October," Montu pointed out.
He said senior Oikya Front leaders will offer fateha at the shrines of Hazrat Shahjalal (R) and Shah Paran (R) and at the grave of General MAG Osmani, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces during the War of Liberation, in Sylhet on 24 October, and then hold the public rally in the city.
Oikya Front leaders will go to Chattogram on 27 October and hold a rally there the same day, Montu said adding they have already sought permission from the authorities concerned to hold the rally in Chattogram city.
Before going to Chattogram, he said, they will exchange views with different professionals in the capital on 26 October.
The Oikya Front leader said the meeting also formed a coordination committee and a steering one of the alliance.
Two leaders of each Oikya Front components are kept there in the coordination committee while the steering one was formed with the top most leaders of all parties, Montu added.
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Moudud Ahmed, JSD vice-president Tania Rob, general secretary Abdul Malek Ratan, Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Gano Forum executive president Subrata Chowdhury, Zafrullah Chowdhury and former vice-president of Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed were present at the meeting.
On 13 October, BNP together with Kama Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, JSD and Nagorik Oikya launched the Jatiy Oikyafront to press for their seven-point demand, including holding the next polls under a non-party administration.