Thursday • January 11, 2007

Indefinite siege of Bangabhaban from Jan 14, blockade on Jan 14-15,17-18, hartal on Jan 21-22 if polls not cancelled

Awami League, allies announce fresh spell of agitation programs

Asserting her demand for immediate cancellation of the January 22 'farcical polls', Awami League president and the premier leader of the mega-combine, Sheikh Hasina yesterday declared a nine-day action programme including non-stop siege of Bangabhaban starting from January 14 and a 48-hour nationwide stoppage (hartal) on January 21 and January 22.

Announcing the fresh course of action programme at a mammoth public rally at the capital's Paltan Maidan, she has said the mega-combine is also giving a call for countrywide rail-road-waterway-port blockade program on January 14 and January 15, and on January 17 and January 18.

"If the caretaker government of Prof Iajuddin Ahmed fails to accept our demands by this time, a countrywide 48-hour hartal will be observed on January 21 and January 22 and if the government goes ahead with holding the farcical election on January 22, we will be compelled to call a non-stop countrywide blockade program for restoration of democracy, the Constitution and franchise," Sheikh Hasina said amid thunderous slogans, cheers and clapping of thousands of people.

"We will not let anybody play with the people's fate and their legitimate rights to franchise and democracy any more and we along with the masses will resist the caretaker government's conspiracy to hold a farcical election on January 22," she said and wanted to know whether the masses are ready for resisting the polls in the ongoing movement, they replied in the affirmative raising both their hands.

"The movement for restoration of democracy and voting right as well as saving the country from the plunderers of national wealth must continue," Sheikh Hasina said adding that holding of a free, fair and credible election is a far cry under President Prof Iajuddin Ahmed as he became the yes-man of BNP and Hawa Bhaban for implementing their conspiracy of election engineering depriving the people of their franchise.

She also demanded immediate resignation of the President from the post of the Chief Adviser which he assumed unconstitutionally, rescheduling of the polls, publication of a flawless, corrected and updated voter list, reforming the Election Commission (EC), issuing voters' identity cards, removing the 300 partisan officials from the EC and crating an atmosphere conducive to credible polls.

Calling upon the people from all strata to build a united resistance at all the polling centres round the country to the January 22 one-sided election at any cost, Sheikh Hasina also urged those employees and officials involved in the election process including Presiding Officers and polling officers not to go and take part in the January 22 polls when the mega-combine along with the masses have already boycotted the mockery of an election.

She also warned them if they go to the polling centres to cooperate with and assist in holding the farcical polls, then they will be treated as the enemies of the people. The Awami League President also called upon the people from all walks of life to build an all-out resistance to the holding of an one-sided poll adding that the development partners and donor agencies had already refused to send poll observers as this mockery in the name of election would not be credible nationally and internationally.

The Awami League-led mega-combine comprising the 14-party alliance, Jatiya Party (Ershad), Liberal Democratic Party, Zaker Party and a faction of the Islami Oikya Jote organized the public rally marking the Homecoming Day of the founding father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The great leader returned to independent Bangladesh from Pakistani prison on January 10 in 1972. with Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Some 27 leaders of the mega-combine including HM Ershad, Prof AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Abdul Jalil, Rashed Khan Menon, Col (Retd) Oli Ahmed, Hasanul Huq Inu, Kazi Zafar Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Mostafa Ameer Faisal, ABM Ruhul Amin Howladar, Md Nurul Islam, AKM Rahamatulah, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya (Bir Bikram), Dilip Barua, Haji Abdus Samad, Mofizul Islam Khan Kamal, MA Gani, Zakir Hossain and Dr Asit Baron Roy also addressed the rally which was presided over by Sheikh Hasina. The rally was conducted by Asaduzzaman Noor.

During her speech from 4-55pm, Sheikh Hasina also brought allegations against Prof Iajudin Ahmed of violating the Constitution in every step and hatching a conspiracy to snatch away people's voting right by arranging an election without a voter list at the dictates of his mentor Begum Khaleda Zia to protect those thieves who have plundered thousands of crores of public money and siphoned off the amount abroad by helping them assume power again in order to indulge in more corruption and exploit the people.

"They (BNP-Jamaat) want to go to power through a farcical poll of election engineering to loot the people's money and wealth again as they know better that the people of Bangladesh would try them and realize the huge amount of money they have looted while in power," Sheikh Hasina said adding: "Although he was one of my teachers at Dhaka University days, I presume all the human feelings and senses of Prof Iajuddin Ahmed have withered away as he has now been behaving like nothing but a stooge of Khaleda Zia forgetting his obligations to the people."

Referring to Article 7, Articles 121 and 122 of the Constitution which enshrine the people's empowerment and stress the obligation of a flawless voter list to conduct an election, the mega-combine chief posed a question as to how Prof Iajuddin Ahmed's government could announce polls schedule and arrange the national polls on January 22 prior to publishing a flawless voter list.

About the BNP-Jamaat's campaign against her remarks on 90-day timeframe obligation for holding election by the caretaker government, the former Prime Minister said a congenial atmosphere was created then in 1996 and the polls schedule was announced after publication of a corrected and updated voter list. Otherwise, she said that the BNP and its allies would not have taken part in that election.

Citing the reasons for boycotting the election by the mega-combine, she said, "We have decided to take part in the polls and prepared the nominees but we have detected that there is an absence of a flawless, corrected and updated voter list, found two to three rolls, over 300 partisan election officials and, moreover, we have observed that the caretaker government didn't honor its five-point package offer….now we could easily guess the government will play an election game, the results of which are already prepared and only then we took the election boycott decision to protect people's franchise."

Condemning strongly police excesses on the national leaders and even on women activists of the mega-combine, Sheikh Hasina instructed the platform leaders to prepare a list of those partisan officials who ordered such brutalities reminding them of enhancing their salaries and facilities including construction of a multi-storied building as police hostel during her government's tenure. She said, "You are also voters…but you can't let the vote thieves indulge in stealing of votes by assaulting the national leaders….the consequences will be bad for you as we are in a movement for restoring democratic and constitutional rights for the people through which rule of law and transparency and accountability of a government will be ensured and the people will get a better lifestyle."

Chanting various slogans against holding of the farcical polls of January 22 and carrying banners, placards, posters, big portraits of Bangabandhu, Sheikh Hasina and polls aspirants, thousands of people converged on the rally venue from different city wards and adjoining districts and by 4pm the entire Paltan Maidan and its surrounding streets turned into a human sea.

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