No election will be held if it is not held in December: Mirza Abbas

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) standing committee member Mirza Abbas reiterated on Friday the demand of holding the parliamentary elections by December this year.

He feared there will be no election in this country ever again if it is not held by next December.

“Don’t try to defer the election by adopting various excuses. We know it very well, there will be no more elections in this country ever again if the election is not held in December. Bangladesh will come under the influence of foreign masters,” he said, indicating the interim government.

Mirza Abbas was addressing an event marking the 44th death anniversary of former president and BNP’s founder Ziaur Rahman in front of the party headquarters at Naya Paltan in Dhaka this afternoon.

BNP’s ward no. 13 in Paltan Thana organised the event to distribute food among the poor and destitute.

Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus has pitted himself against BNP, Mirza Abbas remarked.

“He sat in Japan and spoke with animosity against BNP. From Japan, he claimed that only BNP wants elections in December. In response, I want to say, Dr Yunus, please recall that it was you who first spoke about elections being held in December,” he added.

Referring to a recent meeting between the BNP and the chief adviser, the BNP leader said, “After we left the meeting, around 6:00 or 6:30 in the evening, your press secretary said that elections could be held in June. But the press secretary and you are not the same.”

Mirza Abbas also remarked that the interim government will never achieve the kind of reforms introduced by Ziaur Rahman during his rule.

He said, “The reforms introduced by Ziaur Rahman can not be matched by this government even in a lifetime. Ziaur Rahman made numerous reforms in sectors such as health and education, yet he never made announcements about those.”

Pointing out that the interim government is announcing reforms while bringing in people from abroad, the BNP standing committee member said, “Today, this reformist government is importing people from outside to carry out reforms - people who are not citizens of this country, who do not have the same love for the nation, who do not love the country. How could such people reform the lives of our citizens? We do not understand this.”

Stating that the New Mooring Terminal at Chattogram port has operational capabilities, he questioned, “Then why hand over this terminal to foreigners? If the foreigners come, they won’t keep their money in Bangladesh. So, stop this love with foreigners; instead, care for your own people. We will train our own citizens. Local people will run the New Mooring Terminal. We do not need outsiders.”

Posing a question to the government, Mirza Abbas said, “There is no food, no clothes, people cannot even send their children to school in Saint Martin’s Island. What has happened in Saint Martin’s island that Bangladeshi boats can no longer go there? What exactly is happening there? We want to know. We also want to know what is going on in Sajek.”

The event was also attended by BNP central committee’s assistant youth affairs secretary Mir Nawaz Ali and Dhaka South city BNP member secretary Tanvir Ahmed Robin.

The programme was hosted by former general secretary of Paltan thana BNP, Kazi Hasibur Rahman Shakil.