The Leader of the Opposition and Amir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr Shafiqur Rahman, has said the people said yes in the referendum for change and for reform. “We will not let the ‘yes’ of 70 percent of people in the referendum be insulted. We want to see the ‘yes’ vote implemented. We will hear no evasion,” he said.
He said the demand of people all over Bangladesh is the same — the popular verdict of the referendum must be implemented. It is by implementing that verdict that our movement will reach the threshold of success, he said. “We want no more fascism in Bangladesh.”
He made the remarks as chief guest at the 11-party Sylhet divisional rally at the historic Government Alia Madrasah ground in Sylhet on Saturday afternoon.
Dr Shafiqur Rahman said: “The BNP has started walking the very path of the fascist Awami League. They are going to nationalise corruption by making everything partisan at every level. We will not accept this. We drove out Hasina; if they establish fascism, the people will drive them out too.”
Warning the government on implementing the referendum verdict, he said: “Accept it in good grace. We will not betray our July fighters, our July martyrs and 18 crore people. We will keep our word. We will fight and keep our word even at the cost of our lives.”
Calling on the people of Sylhet to prepare for the next movement, the Jamaat Amir said: “The call for Dhaka will come. Get ready. A fortress of struggle must be built in every home. Until fascism, extortionists, the corrupt and misrule are removed from the country, our fight will grow fiercer and fiercer. We will not stop.”
Setting out Sylhet’s deprivation and hardship, the Leader of the Opposition told the government: “Some of Sylhet’s legitimate demands have been left hanging for ages. Turn Sylhet M A G Osmani Airport into an international airport immediately. Complete Sylhet’s six-lane road immediately and give the people relief. Sylhet’s long-standing demand is for an engineering university here. Why is the college limping along? Turn it into a university and give it life. The medical university is a building in name only, with one vice-chancellor. Hardly any other activity is visible. Give it full form immediately.”
The opposition chief whip and convener of the Jatiya Nagorik Party (NCP), Nahid Islam, said: “The July revolution is spreading from country to country. And our government is walking in the opposite direction. We had hoped that the government that came to power through the July revolution would implement the popular verdict of the referendum. But we are seeing with sorrow that this government is disregarding the people’s verdict in the referendum. If the BNP forgets July, forgets the young, forgets the 1,400 martyrs, then the BNP will have to bear the consequences.”
He also said: “After the election the BNP has forgotten reform. They are now talking only of amending the constitution. It is only some brokering intellectuals who say amendment is needed and reform is not.” Nahid warned that if the government does not carry out reforms, Tarique Rahman will not be able to hold on to the confidence that had been created among the people. The constitution must be reformed through the July charter, he said.
The opposition chief whip Nahid further said: “The BNP is making the election commission and every institution in the country partisan. Because of this, the improvement we wanted will not happen. If the popular verdict of the referendum is not implemented, it will not be possible for us to cooperate with this government any longer. If the July charter and the referendum verdict are not implemented, this government will not be able to complete its five-year term. Tarique Rahman must therefore take a decision on implementing the referendum verdict and the July charter. Otherwise he will have to suffer their fate.”
The Amir of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Shaikhul Hadith Allama Mamunul Haque, said: “Our journey of unity began to realise the purpose of the July revolution — not to share out power among the governing party or the 11 parties. Until the goal of the July revolution is achieved, we will continue our movement. Our leaders and workers suffered oppression and torture for 17 long years. Leaders and workers were killed, murdered and disappeared. Our brothers gave blood in the July revolution and at Shapla. Many brothers and sisters were left permanently disabled or lost their eyes.”
Addressing the government, he said: “We want to tell the government: you too were in the anti-fascist movement. We consider you friends. We want the country’s good, as you do. If you betray the July revolution through which you took power, we will not hesitate to seize you by the collar and push you out. If you toy with the voting rights of about 70 percent of people in the referendum and betray them, your fate will be like Sheikh Hasina’s.”
Mamunul Haque also said: “Accept the referendum verdict, implement the July charter to the letter, form a constituent assembly in the light of the referendum verdict. Otherwise you will be forced to implement it through a movement. Our movement is a movement to win the rights of 30,000 wounded July fighters.”
The general secretary of the AB Party, barrister Asaduzzaman Fuad, said: “We want to remind the present government again and again — one of the main things in the commitment of the 2024 mass uprising on which you came to power was justice and reform. But over the past one and a half years we have seen that you have not been able to play as effective a role in justice and reform as you were interested and active in the election. It is not enough merely to talk of the July national charter, the referendum or the popular verdict. The promises political parties made to the people must also be kept. The people want to know — how can they place trust in a party that cannot keep its own promises?”
The chairman of the Labour Party, Dr Iran, alleged that before the election various false propaganda and conspiracies were carried out against the leaders and workers of the 11-party alliance, and that many candidates were defeated by engineering the election. He claimed that important leaders including the 11-party alliance coordinator Dr Hamidur Rahman Azad, Maulana Mamunul Haque and Jamaat-e-Islami secretary-general Mia Golam Parwar were defeated by design. He warned that if the present government thinks it will stay in power for five years, it is making a mistake. Past governments too expected to stay in power for five years, but that did not prove possible in the face of the people’s movement. The 11-party alliance will announce a tough programme demanding the implementation of the referendum verdict, he said.
The vice-president and spokesperson of JAGPA, engineer Rashed Pradhan, said: “Those who cannot do anything for the nation in five months will not be able to do anything in the next five years either. We do not want to see Indian hegemony any more. We do not want to see anyone else disappeared like Ilias Ali on India’s instructions. We do not want to see the people of Sylhet deprived any longer because of the Tipaimukh dam. We want to establish a Bangladesh of justice.” Addressing the government, he said the July charter must be implemented in the light of the referendum verdict. If the government does not implement the popular verdict, a grand rally will be held in Dhaka and a one-point movement to bring down the government will begin.
The senior naib-e-Amir of the Nezam-e-Islam Party, Maulana Abdul Majed Athari, said the people’s verdict must be given constitutional recognition through the referendum in order to realise the expectations the people expressed through the July mass uprising. No government can survive by ignoring the people’s verdict and the aspirations of the July mass uprising, he said. Just as the people took to the streets against autocracy, any attempt in future against the people’s aspirations will not be accepted. He called on the Leader of the Opposition, party leaders and the top leaders of the movement to take effective steps to realise the spirit of the July mass uprising and to carry the coming movement forward to its final goal.
The chairman of the Bangladesh Development Party, advocate A K M Anwarul Islam Chan, said: “Although the BNP did not want to accept the caretaker government system in 1991, it was forced to accept it in the face of an intense popular movement in 1996. In 2004 the BNP again deceived the nation and created a national crisis by raising the age of judges through the fourteenth amendment. As a result the One-Eleven government came. It was because of the BNP’s obstinacy that the nation was bound in the chains of 17 years of servitude. In the same way the BNP is again pushing the nation towards fresh uncertainty by not accepting the referendum verdict. I want to warn: the people’s verdict can be denied, but the consequences of not accepting the result of that verdict cannot be denied. Power changes, chairs change, but the people’s verdict does not change. Accept the popular verdict while there is time.”
In his chairman’s address, the president of the LDP, Colonel (Retd) Oli Ahmad, Bir Bikram, said an accountable Bangladesh will be possible only when justice is established and the country is freed of extortionists and corruption. Addressing Tarique Rahman, he said: “You have to be the prime minister of Bangladesh, not of the BNP. Do not listen to brokers and flatterers; weigh things with your own conscience and implement reforms. Talk to the leaders of the 11 parties if necessary. Free the nation.”
He said: “Carry out the reforms the people want. Think about the people of Bangladesh. You have not been able to stop extortion. You are being led down the wrong path. Because you were abroad, you still cannot grasp the reality. To be the people’s prime minister you must reflect the people’s hopes and aspirations. Do not push us towards a one-point movement to bring down the government. Pass the reforms through parliament.” On the question of Sheikh Hasina’s return to the country, he called on the people to be ready with the hangman’s rope.
The welcome address at the divisional rally was given by the central working council member of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Sylhet metropolitan Amir, Md Fakhrul Islam. Others who spoke included the naib-e-Amir of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Maulana Rezaul Karim Jalali; the central assistant secretary-general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr A H M Hamidur Rahman Azad; the assistant secretary-general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and secretary of the central publicity and media department, advocate Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair; the senior joint secretary-general of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Maulana Ataullah Amin; the central executive council member of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Amir of Dhaka metropolitan north, Md Selim Uddin; the central Majlis-e-Shura member of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Sylhet district Amir, Maulana Habibur Rahman; the central organising secretary of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Maulana Foyez Ahmed; the central joint general secretary of JAGPA and Dhaka metropolitan president, Ziaul Anwar; the NCP Sylhet district president, Junayed Ahmad; the former naib-e-Amir of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s Sylhet metropolitan unit, Hafiz Abdul Hai Harun; the president of the Sylhet metropolitan branch of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Maulana Emran Alam; the Amir of Bangladesh Nezam-e-Islam Party’s Sylhet metropolitan unit, Maulana Mozzamel Haque Talukder; the Sylhet district president of Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis, Maulana Md Iqbal Hussain; the Sylhet metropolitan president of the Bangladesh Labour Party, Mahbubur Rahman; and the Sylhet metropolitan president of Bangladesh Islami Chhatra Shibir, Shahidul Islam Saju.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report