The opposition 18-party alliance led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Sunday said they would sit for dialogue with the government provided the Prime Minister publicly announces that the next general election will be held under a non-party neutral caretaker government.
The alliance leaders set the condition while responding to ruling Awami League leader Mahbubul Huq Hanif’s proposal to the opposition for dialogue over election-time interim government.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said they definitely believe in dialogue, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will have to publicly spell out that she believes in holding the next general election under a non-party neutral caretaker government.
‘Then we can solely discuss who would be the head of the caretaker government, not any other matter,’ he told an opposition rally in the city.
Fakhrul said the election would take place, and they would go to the election. ‘But it must be held under a non-party caretaker government.’
Otherwise, the opposition would launch a movement after Eid for realising the demand, the BNP leader said.
Responding to the PM’s remarks that BNP can place its proposal in parliament,  Fakhrul said BNP is a minority party in parliament and if it places its proposal the ruling party could reject it by their brute majority.
He recalled that the incumbent Prime Minister did not accept Sir Ninian’s proposal in 1994 for forming an interim government with five representatives each from the then ruling BNP and opposition Awami League, keeping Khaleda Zia as the prime Minister.
Fakhrul recounted that Sheikh Hasina at that time had said they would not go to election keeping Khaleda Zia as Prime Minister.  ‘Now how does she expect the opposition would go to election keeping her as the Prime Minister?’ he questioned.
The BNP leader bitterly criticised the government for filing false cases against  opposition leaders.
Fakhrul said the objective of filing cases by the government was to eliminate the opposition by using state machinery after failing to face its political opponents politically.
He asked the government to immediately withdraw ‘false’ cases against political leaders, including BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and senior vice chairman Tarique Rahman.
The protest rally was organised by Dhaka city committee of the 18-party  alliance in front of BNP’s central office to protest the government’s ‘naked interference into the  judiciary and framing charges in a false cases against top leaders of the alliance.
Presided over by Dhaka city BNP member secretary Abdus Salam, the rally was addressed, among others, by BNP leaders Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Shamsuzzman Dudu and Moazzem Hossain Alal, Jamaat leader
Mojibur Rahman and NDP leader Alamgir Majumder.