No chance of changing govt without elections: Quader

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader Wednesday said there is no chance of changing the government without elections. 

“The government will be changed in Bangladesh through elections to be held following the Constitution. There is no chance of changing the government without polls,” he said in a statement.

 

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, warned the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) that its threat to oust the Awami League government through a movement will not bring any result as the next general elections will be held as per the Constitution.

He said the Awami League along with the country’s people will give a harsher reply if the BNP wants to seize the state power through conspiracy.

Replying to a statement of BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Quader said the ruling Awami League has traditionally been fully respectful of the rule of law and it never takes on the responsibility of running the country without elections. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, has created the only instance of peaceful transfer of power through the constitutional manner in independent Bangladesh, he said.

The AL general secretary said by killing Bangabandhu and most of his family members, BNP founder Ziaur Rahman had captured the state power violating the Constitution. 

Even, Zia first blocked the way for the trial of Bangabandhu’s killers by announcing the Indemnity Ordinance and later turning it into law to protect the killers, he said, adding that there is no other such malicious incident in world history.

Quader said Begum Khaleda Zia, the successor of dictator Zia, had similarly chosen the path of killing countless AL leaders and activists in 1996 and 2006 to stay in power illegally. 

“During the BNP reign, Bangladesh became a sanctuary of killing, terrorism and militancy. The BNP carried out a state-sponsored grenade attack on August 21 in 2004 to wipe out the Awami League aiming to perpetuate their power,” he said.

The AL general secretary said Sheikh Hasina has established the rule of law in the country and has completed the trial of Bangabandhu’s killers following the judicial process as per the Code of Criminal Procedure.

On the other hand, he said, the BNP awarded the anti-liberation forces and war criminals by brining those in power. “Even though, when the BNP was in power, they (BNP) did not take any initiative to bring the killers of BNP founder Zia. Even they did not demand their trial,” he added. 

The statements, given by the BNP secretary general, is nothing but part of the BNP regular falsehood of its ill-politics, Quader said. 

The statements that Fakhrul gave over the murder of vice-president of Jessore Zila Juba Dal Badiuzzaman were fabricated and untrue, he added.

Wishing not to make any comment on any under-trial issue, the road transport minister said none's political identity can cover up the offense of a murderer and assured that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.