Politicians and professionals on Wednesday called for holding free, fair and neutral polls to restore peoples’ voting rights.
They made the call at a discussion, organised by Jatiya Oikya Prokriya, on poll-time non-party government at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital.
Presiding over the discussion, Jatiya Oikya Prokriya convener Kamal Hossain said even after scissoring the constitution a number of times, the fundamental principle democracy remained.
He said democracy recognised people as the owner of the country but now people with black money owned the country. Kamal, also Gono Forum president, claimed he had no black money.
He said a way must be found out to reinstate people’s ownership of state power and regretted that even 47 years after the country’s independence people were not owner of state power.
The Gono Forum president reiterated that people wanted fair election and change.
Supreme Court Bar Association president Zainul Abedin said people were now united for establishing their voting rights. He said imprisoned BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia said that she would see from jail that the government fell through national unity.
JSD president ASM Abdur Rob said qualitative change in politics must be brought through movement to ensure people’s ownership of the country.
Former army-backed caretaker government adviser Mainul Hosein said people’s mandate would decide who would form the government. He said fair election was not possible under the present government.
Ganoshasthya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury said the first step towards establishing poll-time non-party government was that all political leaders and activists would free BNP’s imprisoned chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail on bail.
Senior journalist Mahfuz Ullah said a non-party government was necessary for ensuring people’s voting rights.
Former FBCCI president Abdul Awal Mintoo, also BNP vice-chairman, said only a good election was not enough for democracy; how the country would be governed after the election was also important.
Dhaka University teacher Nurul Amin Bepari said a neutral poll was never possible under an autocratic government and termed the present government autocratic.
Gano Forum executive president Subrato Chowdhury, former Dhaka University Central Students’ Union vice-president Sultan Mohammad Monsur, SCBA secretary Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Dhaka University teacher CR Abrar, among others, took part in the discussion conducted by Jatiya Oikya Prokriya member secretary ABM Mostafa Amin.
- Courtesy: New Age/ Sep 27, 2018
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