Mirza Abbas warns against attempt to derail national polls timeline

BNP leader Mirza Abbas thanked Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus for confirming the national election by December and warned that attempts by any quarter to delay it by pushing for local body polls first would be strongly opposed.

"We thank the chief adviser for announcing that the election will be held by December during his meeting with our secretary general [Mirza Fakhrul] yesterday. We hope the election will take place within December, if there is no plot to foil it," he said while addressing a workshop.

The Mugda Thana unit of Dhaka south city BNP organised the programme near the Bir Shrestha Shaheed Mustafa Kamal Stadium today, where party leaders and workers were trained on the party's 31-point state-overhauling proposals.

Abbas, a BNP standing committee member, said their party will continue to support the interim government in organising a credible and fair election. "But, those who try to derail the election will be given a fitting reply."

The BNP leader said the people of the country, who have been deprived of their voting rights for a long time, should be given the opportunity to vote for the candidates and parties of their choice by holding the national election as early as possible.

Abbas said those who are currently criticising BNP will eventually thank the party for pushing for elections.

He said BNP is pushing for the national election because the party has spent the past 17 years fighting on the streets to restore democracy and people's voting rights.

Abbas warned that if local body elections were held now, it would allow the Awami League to come out of their hideouts. "We won't allow that to happen."

Commenting on the joint forces' "Operation Devil Hunt," he urged law enforcers to focus on tracking down the real "devils" within the government offices and administration, rather than searching for "offenders in the forest".

"The devils of Awami League are still sitting in all government offices, from the union office to the DC office, the secretariat, and other institutions... They are the ones trying to lead this government astray," Abbas viewed.