DHAKA, 20 July — Bangladesh’s former opposition leader Khaleda Zia denied yesterday charges that her party was seeking to force a state of emergency ahead of upcoming general elections.
“There will be no emergency rule in Bangladesh. The people are prepared for the elections,” Khaleda told thousands of supporters at a rally for the four-party alliance led by her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Khaleda, Bangladesh’s first woman prime minister from 1991 to 1995, had been accused Wednesday by outgoing Prime Minister Hasina Wajed of trying to provoke a state of emergency to prevent polling — expected in early October.
Both the BNP and Hasina’s Awami League have been trading accusations since a caretaker government was installed at the weekend to oversee the elections.
At least 14 people have died and hundreds injured in rival clashes and violence across Bangladesh in the past week. The latest person killed was an Awami League-backed student leader who was hacked to death Wednesday.
More than 24 people were injured in political clashes yesterday, most of them in the western district of Bogra, the private Ekushey television network reported.
Khaleda asked all in the four-party alliance to immediately start working for the general elections. Addressing a mammoth rally at the city center last evening, she ruled out any possibility promulgation of emergency in the country as feared by Hasina and said, “Polls will be held on schedule. People are with us and by the grace of God we shall win in more than two-third seats in the country’s 300-seat -parliament.”
Presided over by convener of the city unit of the four-party liaison committee Sadeque Hossain Khoka, the meeting was addressed by Jamaat-e-Islami President Maulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, Acting Chairman of Jatiya Party (M-N) Dr. M.A. Matin, secretaries-general of all the four parties, among others.
The meeting, apparently the first projection rally of the four-party alliance, was followed by a huge procession that paraded the city streets.
Khaleda alleged that during its five-year misrule, the Awami League had politicized the administration. She demanded immediate reshuffling of the administration and also the election commission in order to hold a free and fair poll in the country.
She also demanded immediate release of all political prisoners and withdrawal of all false cases earlier filed by Awami League government against political adversaries. She demanded release of former ministers K.M. Obaidur Rahman and Nurul Islam Manjoor and Jatiya Party Secretary-General Naziur Rahman Manjoor.
Khaleda apprehended that Awami League might hatch conspiracy to destabilize the government by resorting to violence through its armed men and asked the people to remain vigilant against such conspiracies. She demanded recovery of illegal arms and also licensed arms being illegally used by the Awami League supporters.
