BANGLADESH

The BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Sunday warned of a deepening 'political crisis' if the constitutional provision of caretaker government for overseeing general elections is not restored.

The acting secretary-general also came down hard on the government party's planned programmes on the same day as the opposition's and alleged that the ruling Awami League was deliberately pushing the nation towards conflict

"We have been saying time and again that the only solution to the existing political crisis in the country is to reinstate the caretaker government system. No solution can be reached by reconstituting the Election Commission," the acting secretary-general told journalists at Mahakhali.

He reiterated that the government has to decide on the interim government system first.

Replying to a journalist's query, he said, "No impartial polls are possible under a party-led government."

He disagreed with the immediate past chief election commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda's contention that fair balloting was possible under a political government if EC gets more power. Fakhrul said the CEC's statement is devoid of reality.

When his attention was drawn to Awami League's counter-programme announcement in the first week of March, he said, "Our March 12 programme is pre-announced. Khaleda Zia announced the programme on Jan 9 in Chittagong. In spite of knowing this, the ruling party announced programmes on the same day."

Criticising the ruling party, Fakhrul said, "It is a reflection of their undemocratic face. Listening to the statements of the ministers and leaders [of Awami League] it seems that they do not care about democratic practices."

He called on the ruling party to call off their programmes and alleged that the ruling party wants to make the country 'unstable' to establish 'a one-party rule'.

Fakhrul went to Metropolitan Hospital at Mahakhali to visit Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Chandpur's leader Enamul Haque who was shot in the head on Jan 29 during the party's mass procession, allegedly during police fire.

Enamul was admitted to the private hospital the same day and has undergone a surgery.

During the mass procession programme, BNP and Chhatra Dal supporters Abul Hossain Gazi and Limon Shayal died on the spot in Chandpur.

Fakhrul said the doctors had told him that Enamul's condition is critical and prayed for quick recovery.