Reform reports sans political parties’ consensus won’t be acceptable: Mirza Fakhrul
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the reports of the reform commissions will not be acceptable without the consensus of the political parties.
Mirza Fakhrul made the remarks while speaking to the journalists after paying tribute at the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman in the capital’s Sher-E-Bangla Nagar on Sunday on the occasion of the party founder’s 89th birth anniversary.
Replying to a query on BNP’s reactions to the submission of the reports of four reform commissions, Mirza Fakhrul Islam said, “Initially, we are making no comments as we did not receive the full reports yet. The government said they plan to hold talks with political parties after they get the reports, and then a decision will be made. Finally, nothing will be acceptable without a consensus.”
Replying to another query on BNP’s demand for holding elections within July-August that some quarters labelled unrealistic, Mirza Fakhrul said, “We have been repeatedly saying that there is no contradiction between reforms and election. The party that will come to power through the election will continue the reform initiatives. We can clarify from our party that we will move forward with each reform initiative.”
Speaking about the party founder, the BNP leader said, “Ziaur Rahman was a soldier, who declared the independence of Bangladesh and then people of Bangladesh joined the Liberation War.”
Similarly, Ziaur Rhaman came to power through the the Sepoy-Janata Biplob (Soldiers and People’s Revolution) in 1975 and he then started working on new reforms in a short time to build a modern and prosperous Bangladesh, Mirza Fakhrul stated adding that Ziaur Rhaman first introduced multiparty democracy through reforms.
“The party that Ziaur Rhaman founded has now become the largest party of the country after overcoming many obstacles for many years and his successor, Khaleda Zia, strengthened the party but she is ill and now in London. We pray for her recovery,” Mirza Fakhrul added.
Mirza Fakhrul expected the unity of people to get stronger, saying, “A system must be established so that we can return to democracy through election as soon as possible.”