March 29, 2024, 2:57 pm


Rubel Rana

Published:
2018-05-03 17:03:53 BdST

Hasina says she cannot force BNP to contest in general elections


FT ONLINE


Sheikh Hasina has said it depends entirely on the BNP whether it will in the next general election, making it clear that she is not going to take initiative to bring the party to polls.

At a news conference at the Ganabhaban on Wednesday on her recent trips to Saudi Arabia, the UK and Australia, the prime minister again said the BNP's acting chief Tarique Rahman would be brought back from London to face justice.

The party wants talks on a non-partisan election-time government and dissolution of the current parliament before the election.

It is also demanding release of Tarique’s mother and its chief Khaleda Zia, who is in jail in a corruption case.

The party says it will not contest in the next general election with Hasina in power and Khaleda in jail.

When journalists asked the prime minister about the issue, she said, “Contesting in elections is a party’s own decision. I can’t force a party to contest in polls.”

“Are you (journalists) asking me to tell them (BNP) that they will be jailed if they do not contest in the election?” she snapped.

She referenced the violent boycott of the 2014 elections by the BNP. “They tried to stop the election and they killed people for this.”

She also said the government had nothing to do with Khaleda’s jailing.

“I could jail their leader in 2014, ‘15 and ’16 if I wanted to do it politically. She got herself confined and ordered killings in 2015,” she said.

“Now the court has delivered the verdict. We can’t do anything here even if they demand that we act. They must tackle it legally,” she added.

The prime minister also hoped her Awami League party will win the parliamentary election even if the BNP contests it.

“The flow of development will be disrupted if the people do not vote us to power,” she asserted.

She recalled how the BNP turned her away when she went to console a grieving Khaleda after the loss of her son Arafat Rahman Coco.

Hasina criticised the BNP chief for keeping her house help Fatema Begum in jail.

“She (Fatema) is in jail for Khaleda Zia, who is a convict. No rights organisation speaks up on this issue. Why should an innocent woman be in jail?” she asked.

Tarique will be ‘brought back’

During her visit to the UK, Hasina had said she had spoken with the British government on extradition of Tarique from London.

“You mustn’t forget that he is a convict. Even FBI representatives had testified against him,” she said on Wednesday, noting that Tarique was sentenced to seven and 10 years in jail in two cases and has many other cases against him.

“And this convict is now staging protests abroad for his mother’s release.”

She once again criticised the BNP leaders for making Tarique their acting chief after the jailing of Khaleda.

“The BNP, which considers itself the largest, most popular and powerful party in Bangladesh, has made a convict its chief. Couldn’t they find any other leader?” she asked.

On the upcoming council of the Bangladesh Chhatra League, she said the leaders for the new committee of the Awami League’s student affiliate would be picked up through consensus if the members fail to elect them.

Hasina will attend the council on May 11 and 12 as chief guest.

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