By Staff Correspondent, Dhaka – The National Citizen Party (NCP), a new political platform formed by students who spearheaded last year’s uprising, has called on the interim administration to hold the next election as a vote for a constituent assembly.
This, they argue, would establish a legal foundation for the uprising that ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The party leaders made the call at a meeting with the Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus at the latter’s official residence in Dhaka on Sunday.
Yunus called the meeting following the police assault on Nurul Haque Nur, a leader of the July uprising, as activists on Friday attacked the office of the Jatiyo Party in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area.
He separately invited leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the NCP to discuss the prevailing political situation.
NCP’s Senior Joint Convener, Ariful Islam Adib, told reporters after the meeting that his party floated the idea of holding the election to the Constituent Assembly first.
“For the legal and constitutional foundation of the July Charter, we want the upcoming election to undoubtedly be a Constituent Assembly election,” Ariful said adding that a new constitution will be formulated after the election.
“We believe, through this election, a permanent solution will be found for the long-standing 54 or 55-year crisis in Bangladesh, and to prevent emergence of autocratic, single-person-centric mindset or state structure,” he said.
NCP leaders Hasnat Abdullah (chief organizer of southern region), Tasnim Zara (senior joint member secretary), and Abdul Hannan Masud (senior joint chief coordinator) attended the meeting.
On the Chief Advisor’s side, the attendees were Law Advisor Asif Nazrul, Industry Advisor Adilur Rahman Khan, and his National Security Advisor Khalilur Rahman.
The NCP leaders also said that the rehabilitation, treatment, and security of the families of those who were martyred or injured in the mass uprising have not yet been ensured.
The party also called upon the government to ensure the rehabilitation and security of the martyrs’ families and the injured.
The NCP leaders urged the Chief Advisor to take clear action against members of state agencies accused in various complaints of enforced disappearance of people during the previous regime taking the report of the Enforced Disappearance Commission into account.
They also asked Yunus to play a role in enhancing the capacity and neutrality of the Election Commission in holding the next election.
The NCP leaders also demanded banning the activities of the Jatiyo Party, which they brand as associate to the ousted Awami League party, activities of which was previously banned by the interim administration.
“There is no difference between the Jatiyo Party and the Awami League. Since the organizational activities of the Awami League have been suspended by the state, and we see that the Jatiyo Party has taken a public stance on behalf of a banned organization to bring the Awami League into the election… and therefore, we have asked the Chief Advisor to consider making the government more effective in suspending the organizational activities of the Jatiyo Party,” Ariful said.
