Whether or not AL would be banned is not an decision of BNP: Moyeen Khan

Whether or not the Bangladesh Awami League would be banned is not a concern of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Abdul Moyeen Khan, Standing Committee Member of the BNP said this on Friday.

According to him, the election commission or the government could make a decision in this regard.

Abdul Moyeen Khan said this is response to a question of a newsperson after a meeting with a delegation of US-based Carter Centre at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office this morning.

“It is the people, not the BNP, who would decide whether or not the Awami League would be banned,” he said.

“The parties that have been speaking about banning the Awami League, expressed their thoughts. But we the BNP men are not the makers of this decision. Our Secretary General (Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir) has already said that this is a matter of the people’s decision. The people will decide who would join the election and who would not. This is our (BNP’s) statement,” Moyeen Khan stated.

Elaborating his statement, the BNP leader said, “You’re asking me whether the Awami League would contest the election, whether they would be accepted or whether or not they would be banned. What I say is, why don’t you ask this question to the Awami League. Do they really want to join elections, do they really want democracy? Awami League has to clarify this.”

Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir led the BNP delegation in the meeting where Organisational Secretary Shama Obayed and Chairperson’s Personal Secretary ABM Abdus Sattar were present.

Jonathan Stonestreet, Senior Associate Director of the Carter Center’s Democracy Program, led the six-member delegation.