The interim government has taken the initiative to take the political parties into confidence to implement the public opinion that has been developed in the country including the administration, police and overall state reform. Chief advisor. Muhammad Yunus held a separate meeting with some political parties and alliances including BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami yesterday.
In the meeting with BNP, the party expressed its support for all aspects of the interim government. At the same time, BNP wants to create a proper environment for elections and give reasonable time to the government to hold elections.
Other parties who attended the meeting with the Chief Adviser are also said to have no objection to giving time to the government. However, the leaders of the parties said that there was no discussion about elections in their meeting with the interim government. They mainly discussed the issues of prosecuting the killings during the student agitation, controlling the law and order situation and reforming the broken police and civil administration. And time is needed to implement the government’s steps in this regard. Parties are taking it into account. However, the parties are not saying anything specific about how many days will be given.
Yesterday, Monday, from four o’clock in the afternoon, the chief advisor Dr. Yunus held one-on-one meetings with top-level leaders of various parties. Five other advisers were present with him in these meetings. They are Professor Asif Nazrul, Farida Akhtar, Adilur Rahman Khan, Nahid Islam and Asif Mahmud Sajeeb Bhuiyan.
An interim government was formed under the leadership of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus three days after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government in the face of student-Janata movement. After that, the government held its first meeting with the politicians yesterday.
The chief adviser held the first meeting with the BNP leaders at 4 pm yesterday. The meeting was attended by top level leaders led by the party’s general secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. After the meeting, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said to the waiting journalists, ‘We did not talk about the election. As I said earlier, it will take some time to create the environment for elections. We are definitely giving them that time. We support them in all matters.’
The Secretary General of BNP also said, ‘We have said one thing very clearly, that the people should not be confused by the attempts of instability, attempts to create chaos, and the smoke of communalism in the country. So that the people help the government by keeping the religious harmony intact and the safety of the people intact. We are fully supporting that.’
Several other BNP leaders who participated in the meeting said that the interim government will prepare an action plan after discussions with the political parties. How the state will be reformed, how long it will take—these things can be included in the action plan.
However, no statement was received from the government regarding this meeting with various parties including BNP. Other BNP leaders in the meeting included the party’s standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Zamir Uddin Sarkar, Mirza Abbas, Nazrul Islam Khan, Ameer Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Selima Rahman and Salahuddin Ahmed.
Jamaat’s meeting with the chief adviser
After the meeting with BNP in the afternoon, a few leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, led by Amir Shafiqur Rahman, entered the Rashtriya Guest House Jamuna. After that, the chief adviser and five advisers held a meeting with them. Jamaat-e-Islami has also assured that it is ready to assist the government in reforming the state. At the same time, they demanded the punishment of the people involved in the killings that took place in the quota reform movement. Jamaat Amir Shafiqur Rahman also told reporters after the meeting that there was no discussion about the election. He added, ‘They just sat down. It’s only been four days. We want them to see how they want to take the nation forward. How to solve problems quickly. We are hopeful that these will be resolved in a reasonable time.’
Allegations of attacks on minorities were also reportedly discussed in the parties’ meeting with the chief adviser. In response to the questions of the journalists in this regard, the Amir of Jamaat commented that the events were a conspiracy against Bangladesh. He said, ‘It is true, there have been some attacks on people belonging to different religions here. Whether the attack was for religious or political reasons, we have to find out.’
Whether there will be a National Day of Mourning on August 15 or not
Apart from BNP-Jamaat, the Chief Adviser held a meeting yesterday with two sections of the Democracy Party, CPB, Basad, Jatiya Mukti Council, AB Party, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) and Gana Odhikar Parishad. These parties have also assured the government to give time to reform the state and cooperate in all fields.
In a separate meeting with the political parties, there were different views on whether August 15, the day of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, should be observed as a national day of mourning or not. According to the sources concerned, some groups are talking about canceling the National Day of Mourning on August 15. Some groups have also voted not to cancel the National Day of Mourning.
No communication was made by the interim government with the Awami League and its allied 14 party partners regarding the meeting of the chief adviser. As a result, it is not yet known whether there will be a discussion with them or not.
After Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country on August 5, President Md. held talks with several political parties and politicians including BNP-Jamaat. Sahabuddin and the head of the three forces. No one from Awami League or their allies was included in that discussion.