AL has destroyed country's political structure: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was the chief guest at the 23rd founding anniversary programme of the Ziaur Rahman at the Institution of Engineers on Monday.

Dhaka, Oct 24 (UNB) - BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged that the current Awami League government has destroyed the political structure of the country by revoking the caretaker government system.

“Awami League has destroyed the political structure that we established in 1991 through many setbacks and struggles. As per that political structure, the government would be formed through a democratic election,” he said.

Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader said Awami League enforced hartal for 173 days with a demand for the introduction of the caretaker government. “Jatiya Party and Jamaat were with them.

He said the then BNP government in 1996 introduced the caretaker government system and four credible and acceptable elections were held under it. “But when they (AL) could understand that people would not vote for them for their misdeeds from 2009-2011, they annulled the caretaker government system with the help of Justice Khairul Haque.”

Later, he said the government has politicised the judiciary which now dictates what the political structure of the country will be. “Thus they destroyed our political structure.”

Ziaur Rahman Foundation arranged the programme at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, marking its 23rd founding anniversary.

Presided over by Farhad Halim Donar, Executive Director of the foundation the programme was also addressed by BNP’s standing committee member Dr. Abdul Moyeen Khan, Dhaka North Unit convener, Amanullah Aman, adviser Dr. Sirajuddin Ahmed, GreenWatch Dhaka editor Mostafa Kamal Majumder, Association of Engineers vice-president Eng Reazul Islam Rizu, and Prof AK Fazlul Huq Bhuiyan among others.  

Where the money has gone:

Fakhrul said the government has also destroyed the country’s economic structure through widespread looting and stealing. “Nothing is happening here, except theft. The main motive behind all mega projects is theft. In this way, they’re taking entire Bangladesh towards destruction. “We must free Bangladesh again from misrule and restore people’s rights”

He said the ruling party was boasting for a long time that the country has achieved self-sufficiency in electricity with a power generation capacity of about 25,000 MW.

“But we’re now facing load shedding. Their energy adviser and my teacher Dr Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said how will we provide electricity as we don’t have money? But they had long been saying there was no crisis of money with $42 billion reserves. Where has that money gone?

The BNP leader said Tawfiq-e-Elahi at a programme of businessmen helplessly admitted that they won’t be able to provide power during the day and it will be given only at night. “This is an example of their development and this is how Bangladesh has become a role model for development.

Unity must to end misrule:

Fakhrul alleged that Awami League has repeatedly harmed Bangladesh and they are again ruining the country by eliminating democracy and snatching people’s rights.

He said people now cannot freely express their opinions due to the digital security act and other repressive laws. “We started a movement to overcome such a situation. We want to have our democracy, voting, and other rights restored. We want to free our leader Khaleda Zia. “We also want all the false cases to be withdrawn.”

The BNP leader urged all, including the youth, to get united to end misrule and materialise the spirit of the Liberation War.

He alleged that Awami League has dashed the nation’s dream of building a prosperous Bangladesh by indulging in plundering and corruption.

He said their party has initiated another war for getting back everything the nation has lost during the rule of the current regime. “We want to get back a democratic Bangladesh where people’s all rights, including the freedom of expression, will be ensured and their lives and property will be protected.”

Fakhrul said if they come to power, they will first take steps to take back Bangladesh and make it a prosperous country through honesty and good governance.

Dr. Abdul Moyeed Khan depicted BNP’s founder Ziaur Rahman’s roles starting from the declaration of the war of liberation and fighting it to victory, taking leadership of the country reposed in him on November 7 1975, introduction of free market economy from a command economy of the AL, Bangladeshi nationalism, uniting the people under multi-party democracy, planning the development of the booming garment industry and manpower export plus his bold strides in the international arena and Bangladesh’s becoming a member of the UN security country. His patriotism and honesty earned him love of the people.  Zia set the economic base on which Bangladesh now stands, he added.