Bangladesh Nationalist Party standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan on Friday said that the issue of whether the Awami League should be banned from politics or disqualified from participating in elections is not a matter for BNP to decide.
鈥榃hether the Awami League will be banned or not is something for the Election Commission or the government to decide 鈥� not the BNP. The political parties that have spoken for banning the Awami League are expressing their own聽 opinions. As the BNP, we are not the authority to make such decisions, he said while speaking to journalists following a meeting with a delegation from the US-based Carter Center at the BNP chair鈥檚 office at Gulshan in the capital Dhaka.
A six-member team from the Carter Center, led by its senior associate director for democracy program Jonathan Stonestreet, held a meeting with BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam.
The Carter Center, founded in 1982 by former US President Jimmy Carter, works worldwide to promote human rights, support democracy, monitor elections, and alleviate human sufferings.
Representing the BNP alongside Abdul Moyeen Khan were advisory council member Ismail Zabiullah, organising secretary Shama Obayed and the BNP chair鈥檚 personal secretary ABM Abdus Sattar.
Citing Mirza Fakhrul, Moyeen Khan said that their secretary general has already stated that, ultimately, it is the people who will decide as to who will participate in the elections or not, and that this is the party鈥檚 official position.
鈥楽ince you have asked me whether the Awami League will join the election, whether they will be disqualified or banned 鈥� I would say, why not ask the Awami League directly? Do they actually want to participate in the election? Do they truly want democracy? That is for the Awami League to answer,鈥� he said.
Moyeen Khan went on to say that over the past nine months, no Awami League member has come forward to admit to 15 years of oppression, misrule and corruption, nor has anyone taken the responsibility or sought forgiveness.
About the meeting with the Carter Center delegation, Moyeen Khan said that two main topics were covered: first, they discussed the overall political situation in Bangladesh and the democratisation process; and secondly, the Carter Center team wanted to explore the possibility of monitoring the election, including how it would be arranged and when.
The BNP leader expressed concerns over the interim government鈥檚 performance, saying that the government is not functioning properly.
Moyeen Khan said that in the absence of an elected government, the state failed to perform effectively, which could encourage conspiracies and instability.
鈥楽ince former President Abdul Hamid left the country on Thursday, the National Citizen Party has also been saying that this government is failing to perform properly,鈥� he said.
鈥榃e are certain that any further delay in the elections will only exacerbate the already dire political, social, economic, and law-and-order crises, which remain unchanged since 5 August, nine months ago,鈥� he said.
