Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud said that making polls participatory is the responsibility of all parties to extend cooperation in holding a free, fair election.
Making polls participatory is the responsibility of all parties: “If any party boycotts elections or tries to thwart it, then the liability will go to the party making the election non-participatory or unacceptable,” he said.
Hasan, also Awami League Joint General Secretary, said these in reply to journalists about the rise of foreigners’ visits to the country a year before the elections’ while exchanging views on contemporary affairs at his residence at the city’s Dewanzi Pukurpar.
He mentioned that the issue of a free and participatory election got priority in the meeting of the Awami League delegation led by its General Secretary Obaidul Quader with ambassadors of the European Union.
“We told them (diplomats) that we want the future government to be elected through a participatory, free, fair, and transparent election. We also want all political parties including BNP to participate in the upcoming elections in the country. We are also telling it to other foreign organizations,” he said.
He said Bangladesh has moved to the 35th largest economy in terms of GDP in the world in the last 14 years leaving behind 25 countries under the charismatic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from its 60th position just in 2009 while Bangladesh stood at 31st position in PPP.
The rank of Bangladesh will rise further in the next few years, he added.
The minister said Bangladesh is now an ‘economically emerging tiger’ so different countries of the world are showing interest in Bangladesh.
That is why, visits of diplomats of different countries and various financial institutions and international organizations to Bangladesh have increased compared to the past, he mentioned.
It is pretty natural that visits of foreigners will increase in the country as they have interests in working with Bangladesh which has a vibrant economy, and a large and ever-expanding market, he said.
About BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul’s remarks that they have no confidence in any election under this government, they must go to the election under the caretaker government, Hasan said, “It is my question why Mirza Fakhrul, being an educated man, is repeatedly saying the election will be held under the government.”
He said elections will be held under the Election Commission and the government only plays the role of facilitator during times of polls.
A polls-time government does not even have the power to transfer a police constable, he mentioned.
“During the polls, Bangladesh Awami League is a side in that election and in the same way, BNP is also a side. We all participate in elections under the Election Commission,” Hasan said.
There is no caretaker government anywhere in the world, except Pakistan, he said.
The information and broadcasting minister said it is a question of why the BNP follows Pakistan too much.
Noting that the caretaker government will not be restored in Bangladesh, the minister said elections would be held in Bangladesh like all parliamentary democratic countries across the globe including India, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Continental European countries.
He said the current government would discharge the duties of the polls-time government.
There will be no benefit in dreaming of holding elections like Pakistan, Hasan added.
The AL joint general secretary recalled that BNP joined the 2018 general elections amid hesitation while they torched 500 polling centers and killed several polling officers and many people in arson attacks in the name of resisting the elections of 2014.
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