The BNP says it’s willing to take part in the upcoming election but only after a level-playing field is ensured.
“Between the only two people eligible to be the prime minister, one will run in the election while in office and the other from behind the bars, that’s not a level-playing field,” senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan told a discussion on Monday.
A member of the policymaking National Standing Committee, Khan said that they will not take part in a farcical election but in a free, fair and credible one.
“The regime is scared to release Khaleda Zia. That’s why she is being denied bail in bailable offences,” he said before adding since the incumbent government is non-elected, it’s not accountable to the people.
Coming down hard on opposition Jatiya Party, he said its leader has been made a special envoy to the PM and three of its MPs are part of the cabinet. “It’s a mockery of the parliamentary system.”