Khaleda calls for ‘dialogue’ again

Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia on Thursday urged the government to resolve the present political problem through dialogue, shunning the path of confrontation.
‘The ball is now in the court of the ruling party,’ she said, while addressing a national conference at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh in the capital.
Khaleda said her party had called for holding discussion with all for establishing a representative government through acceptable elections to resolve the ‘crisis’ in the country.
Islami Oikya Jote (faction), a component of BNP-led alliance, organised the conference demanding a free, neutral and credible national election.
Reading out of a drafted speech, the BNP chairperson said there were no democracy, people’s government and good governance in the country at present.
All institutions have been destroyed, anarchy is prevailing everywhere, the law and order situation has worsened and there is no security for anyone, she alleged, adding that the national economy has been destroyed when public money is not secure even in the central bank.
Khaleda said public money from the central bank is being plundered through digital robbery and siphoned off abroad to create a ‘pile of wealth’.
She claimed that the country’s national culture is at stake under aggression of alien culture.
‘The government has no initiative to protect our national interest. Bangladesh has become isolated and friendless in the international arena. The ruling party is busy protecting their seat of power, preferring the path of slavery, instead of friendship,’ she told the function attended by religious clerics from different parts of the country.
She said her party thinks that everyone must come out from the unhealthy political trend prevalent in the country at present.
The BNP chairperson said people of different religious communities, including Hindus, Buddhists and Christians, have been living in this Muslim majority country together and in peace since time immemorial.
‘This is a matter of pride for us. Various vested groups make ill attempts to undermine that tradition,’ she said, and urged the clerical community (Islamic scholars) to remain alert to efforts to disgrace the country.
Khaleda said Islam is a religion of peace and there is no room of envy, violence, terrorism and militancy in Islam. She said some derailed people have now pushed Muslims across the world to the docket of criminals by choosing the course of terrorism, vendetta and cruelty.
She called upon the clerics to uphold the flag of peace in the light of the lessons of Islam.
Presided over by Islami Oikya Jote (faction) chairman Abdur Rakib, the conference also addressed, among others, by BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, JAGPA president Shafiul Alam Prodhan, Khelafat Majlish secretary general Ahmed Abdul Kader and National People’s Party (faction) chairman Fariduzzaman Farhad.
Meanwhile, earlier, new BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a news conference at the party central office said the arrest warrant was issued against Khaleda Zia in a ‘false’ case to undermine her politically.
He termed the warrant of arrest as being ‘politically motivated’.
In reply to a question, he said BNP would face the arrest warrant legally. If necessary, a movement will be carried out, he added.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net