No objection if AL joins polls but criminals must face trial: Fakhrul

What is your assessment of the the July-August uprising?

I don’t think time has come to fully assess it as one or two months is a very short time. We also have to understand the position, power and capability of the government that has come as a result of the changeover. Dr Muhammad Yunus, the chief adviser to this government, is a very popular persona. People of this country and the whole world respect him. But he does not have much experience behind him on administrative and political aspects of running a state. He, however, is trying his best.

Secondly, except for three to four people inside the government, others don’t have much experience of running a government. Meanwhile they have taken some good moves. But I have one misgiving that they should have discussed with political parties before they announced six commissions for reforms. A tendency is apparent to completely bypass politics. Here you have to have dialogue with political parties. The views of political parties should be heard and the government has to move forward on this basis.

What did the people want during the uprising and what do they want now?

People primarily wanted Awami League’s fall as it completely destroyed politics and economy, it ruined all institutions. That’s why people wanted socioeconomic and political change. You (government) speak about starting the politics of equality, we also echo this notion. We placed 31 points of reforms. The actions of the government must be visible.

Your party could not end the long reign of Awami League, but the students did. Why?

This is not true. I don’t agree with this view. We, the politicians, prepared the ground. You’ve witnessed how we continued movement before this movement started in July. Even during this movement our men were first to go to jail. A total of nine thousand activists of our party including Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and Nazrul Islam were arrested from Dhaka city a day after this movement began. According to our estimation, a total of 422 leaders, activists and supporters of the BNP were killed. The ground had already been prepared. The students joined here with their quota movement. The Awami League mishandled this quota reform movement. It is tough to say what would have been the fate of this movement had the government handled it properly. And yes, the students have an advantage. I repeatedly said that a movement cannot reach its final stage if youth and students don’t come forward.

What is the message from this movement and uprising? Does it reflect no-confidence against politicians?

I don’t think so. A narrative is being created that this movement gives a message against the politicians. It’s true that the past experience of the governance of political parties, especially what the Awami League did in the last 15 or 16 years, has created an apathy. Awami League’s misrule reached the nadir. This is a fact. But governing a country is not possible without politicians.

What do you want now?

We want quick reforms especially in the electoral system, administration and judiciary. We want the election immediately after reforms in these sectors.

What is BNP’s stance on Awami League taking part in the next general election?

People will decide if Awami League wants to join the election as a party. I’m no one to make this decision. We will participate in the election, other parties will. It’s people who will choose.

Does it imply that you won’t have any objection if Awami League takes part in the election?

Awami League will participate if it wants. But our stance is those who were involved with different crimes including genocide and corruption cannot participate in election. There is nothing to raise objection about any particular party’s participation.

There is talk about banning Awami League. What is your stance on this issue?

I don’t want Awami League as a party to be banned. We are against banning any political party as we believe in democratic politics. However, people don’t want to see those of Awami League who committed different crimes and genocide. They must face trial. But you cannot obstruct any party from doing politics in democracy.

BNP said it wants to give the interim government a reasonable time while it also wants the election quickly. How long is this reasonable time? I mean what is your redline?

I cannot really say now. Because it depends on what the government will do and how responsibly it acts. This is why we cannot specify any date. But I am saying this repeatedly because the more you linger the more anti-politics forces will gain traction and they will time to become active to delay people’s rule.

You have mentioned three key reforms. Dr Muhammad Yunus spoke about quickly setting the date of election upon reaching a consensus with political parties on the suggestions given by the six commissions already formed for reform and preparing voter lists. No political parties raised any objection to these.

We don’t have any objection but have a say here. We have been saying that you cannot take an indefinite period for it. I want to stress that any reform carried out should be focused mainly on conducting a participatory and acceptable election by which we can form a national parliament. Failure to conduct elections will give rise to different problems which will be tough to tackle. Our experience says that will give a chance of depoliticization, akin to what happened during 1/11.

Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman spoke about the election within 18 months. Some BNP leaders supported this idea.

It is their personal opinion. Whoever says that, be it Army chief or head of government, I see the gap here is that they did not unveil any specific roadmap. From the very beginning we are maintaining that the government should announce a roadmap.

What are you looking for? An election or a reform roadmap?

We are asking about all issues – how many days they will take for elections and how long it will take for reforms. We have made it clear that reforms are not a priority to us. I believe that they should reform to the extent that is necessary for an election. The responsibility of reforms actually lies with the elected representatives.

If I ask you, who are you to carry out these reforms or to amend the constitution? Who are you actually, and what is your status? The boys put you in this position through a movement, and now you have received all the responsibilities. I don’t think so. You must channel it through the people, and the only way to ensure it is a legitimate election.

But it is said that the interim government has come through the students-people's uprising. They have the support of the people.

Then why haven't they formed a revolutionary government? They have taken an oath under this constitution. They will make only those amendments to the constitution that are necessary for holding elections. If it takes six months or a year, they can take this time. But it shouldn’t be that they will do everything themselves. Where will the representation of the people be? If they think they are the people themselves, I won't agree with that.

But you aren’t specifying a timeframe either.

It’s difficult for us to specify a timeframe. They will handle these matters. I don’t want to create a conflicting situation by giving a timeframe. We want to give them enough time because we are the ones who brought them in. However, they need to seize the opportunity to work on behalf of the people.

Thank you for giving us your time.

Thank you.