Bangladesh's opposition party gears up for another protest

By Md. Kamruzzaman

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Bangladesh's main opposition party and its allies are preparing another protest on Wednesday to pressure Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government to hold the next general election under a non-partisan caretaker administration.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) called for massive protest sit-ins in the capital Dhaka and other major cities across the country during a rally on Dec. 30, which was attended by hundreds of thousands of party members and supporters.

Senior BNP leaders, who were released in recent days after being imprisoned for weeks on charges of inciting their party workers to attack police in Dhaka during a Dec. 7 rally, have urged people to attend protest sit-ins in Dhaka and all divisional cities across the country to press the government for restoring an election-time neutral government system and Hasina's resignation before the next national elections.

Bangladesh introduced a non-political election-time caretaker administration system for holding fair national elections in 1990, following the overthrow of a nine-year-long military dictatorship through a nationwide massive upsurge.

Under the three-month caretaker government arrangement, the country had three general elections in 1991, 1996, and 2001.

However, the ruling Awami League government suspended the system prior to the 2014 national elections, changing the Constitution despite massive protests from opposition parties and civil societies.

The 2014 and 2018 national elections certainly demonstrated that a fair election could not be held under the Awami League government, BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu claimed during a talk with Anadolu Agency.

"So not only the BNP and its political allies but also the country's mass people want a free and fair election under a non-political caretaker government system," Dudu claimed, adding that the participation of thousands of people in two rallies last month demonstrated that Hasina's administration has lost public trust.

He said they expect more people to participate in massive sit-ins for the sake of "democracy and against the government's misrules."

Dhaka police have increased security in the Naya Paltan neighborhood in central Dhaka, which also houses the BNP headquarters.

Hasina has recently forcefully resisted the proposal for a caretaker government system, calling it unconstitutional. She did, however, guarantee a free and fair election.

The South Asian Muslim-majority nation of over 170 million people will hold its 12th general elections in December this year or January next year.

Earlier on Monday, two main BNP leaders were released from jail, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Mirza Abbas. They are among the thousands of opposition party members charged by police following the Dec. 7 clashes in Dhaka, which left one dead and hundreds injured.

Both leaders urged party workers to keep striving for the restoration of a neutral government system and the release of all incarcerated leaders and workers, including former premier and party chief Begum Khaleda Zia.

"Thousands of our leaders and activists are still imprisoned around the country. We will step up our efforts to free our leaders and meet our demands," Alamgir said after his release on Monday evening, standing in front of the party office.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a religious-political party, will also stage a sit-in protest on Wednesday in solidarity with its ally, the BNP.

Police arrested over a hundred of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and activists following a clash with police on Dec. 30 in Dhaka. Over 5,000 party employees and officials were charged in five separate cases by police.​​​​​​​