No talks with BNP over neutral govt issue: Quader

Awami League (AL) General Secretary Obaidul Quader on Thursday said there will be no dialogue with the BNP over the issue of a neutral government.

“We remember what happened before the last general elections; we held dialogue with them (BNP) twice. What was the result? There was no result. There will be no dialogue with the party (BNP), if they raise the condition of the neutral government,” he said, BSS reports.

Quader, also the road transport and bridges minister, was addressing a discussion, organised by the Dhaka South City unit of the ruling AL, in front of the party’s Bangabandhu Avenue’s central office in Dhaka in the afternoon, marking the historic Six-Point Day.

Mentioning that the BNP had fallen in its own trap after placing complaints to its foreign masters, he said they (BNP leaders) got a visa policy from the US instead of sanctions on Bangladesh.

“There is nothing to be worried about the visa policy. Who will be given visa and who will not, it is a matter of that country (the US),” the AL general secretary said.

He said the visa policy will be applied against those, who will disrupt the elections.

“Who wants to create disorder?,” he raised the question, adding, “They are the BNP men.”

About dialogue with the BNP, Quader said as they (BNP leaders) want dialogue only for nomination trade, the government is not thinking of holding dialogue with them.

Pointing to BNP Secretary General Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the AL general secretary said the Supreme Court, not the Awami League, scrapped the caretaker government system.

“There is a constitution and an election commission in the country, so there is no reason to be worried about the elections,” he said.

“Foreign friends want fair elections and we will do that. The BNP wants to dissolve the parliament, which does not happen anywhere in the world. They (BNP leaders) want the government’s fall,” he added.

Quader said when the BNP assumed power, they swallowed up democracy, elections and the values of the Liberation War, so the country is not safe under its reign.

If the BNP comes to power again, it will gobble up the whole country, he said.

Chaired by Dhaka South City AL President Abu Ahmad Mannafi, the meeting was addressed, among others, by AL Presidium Members Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya Bir Bikram and Advocate Qamrul Islam, Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, Organising Secretary Mirza Azam, Dhaka South City AL Vice President Nurul Amin Ruhul and Jubo League Chairman Sheikh Fazle Shams Parash.

Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya vowed that the next general elections would be held in line with the country’s constitution and none would be able to stop it.

Adv Qamrul Islam said Bangladesh is at the peak of development today and that is why the killers of 1971 want to hinder its development, and the BNP and its allies want to halt the elections.

“We must resist this evil force as they want to kill democracy,” he added.