AL mounts pressure on president with impossible demands
BNP rally told
Staff Correspondent
BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan yesterday alleged that the Awami League (AL)-led 14-party combine is trying to mount pressure on the president by placing demands that are impossible to fulfil even in three years. "It appears 14-party combine wants chaos not elections, as it knows it will lose in the upcoming general elections," he said at a rally organised by four-party alliance in front of the BNP's central office at Naya Paltan yesterday evening. The rally was organised to protest the "anarchy and terrorism" during the handing over of power to the caretaker government. He urged the president, who is also the chief adviser to the caretaker government, not to be enticed by anybody. "Don't bow to any pressure, people are behind you and you should do everything as per the law of the country," he said. "Take preparations to hold the election neutrally and do everything that will be good for the country," he urged the caretaker chief. He also accused the 14-party combine of creating obstacles to holding the next general elections and said, "Helping the caretaker government is our responsibility, not to oppose it … those who oppose it, do not want the elections." Ruling out the allegation that the president himself took the post of the chief adviser to the caretaker government bypassing other available options in the constitution, he said, "The president saved the nation by taking the post of the chief adviser constitutionally." Blasting the 14-party combine, he said it created "anarchy" in the country that led to riots and deaths of 22 people. "They don't want the elections and that's why they are creating anarchy to foil the elections," he added. Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General, Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, also urged the president not to bow to the demands made by the 14-party combine. BNP Standing Committee Member Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said, "There is nothing to prove to Sheikh Hasina or Abdul Jalil...you [the president] are holding a constitutional post." BNP standing committee members Khandakar Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, Mirza Abbas, Barkat Ullah Bulu, Aman Ullah Aman and Goyeshwar Roy, Jamaat leaders ATM Azharul Islam and Abdul Kader Mollah, Jatiya Party leader Humayun Kabir and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Naziur) Secretary General Saifur Rahman addressed the rally among others.
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