Bangladesh Chief Adviser Yunus assures BNP to hold elections by December

Dhaka/New Delhi: Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus Monday assured former prime minister Khaleda Zia’s party that his interim government is preparing to hold general elections by December, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's top leader said.

“He (Yunus) informed us that they are working to stage the election by December,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told journalists after a meeting with the interim government chief.

"We have repeatedly urged the government to hold polls quickly. We have once again pressed them on this matter. By completing the minimum reforms, engaging in discussions with the reform commissions, and reaching a consensus, we believe elections can be held swiftly," he added.

Alamgir also criticised the government over the recent incidents across the country, including the one at Dhanmondi, where the residence of Bangladesh founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was demolished by a mob.

"The government cannot evade responsibility for these incidents," he said. "We have seen that those incidents happened one after another in front of law enforcement and other government agencies,” he said.

“As a result of these incidents, the overall law and order situation deteriorated to a large extent,” he added.

Alamgir along with party standing committee members Salahuddin Ahmed and Major (retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed joined the one and a half hours meeting with the Chief Adviser.

Alamgir said the delegation expressed concern over the growing prices of essentials as it was “one of the major failures of this government” though the government said they were working to control it.

The BNP leader said that the government recently launched a security campaign called 'Devil Hunt', which must not make any innocent person a victim as “we have seen that in the past".

 Alamgir also said that the BNP would in no way accept any local government elections before the national election.

 Another BNP delegation led by Nazrul Islam Khan met Chief Election Commissioner AMS Nasir Uddin and other election commissioners to know the commission’s election preparedness.