No election boycott: Dr Kamal

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 17:46, Nov 17, 2018 | Updated : 00:31, Nov 18, 2018

The Jatiya Oikya Front leadership, including its chief Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain is seen sitting on the dais at a rally of Jatiya Ainjibi Oikyafront on the Supreme Court premises on Saturday (Nov 17).

The Jatiya Oikya Front will not sit out from the 11th Parliamentary Election slated for Dec 30, said its leader Dr Kamal Hossain calling upon supporters of the new coalition to guard the voting centres.
Urging the people to exercise their franchises on Election Day despite the ruling party’s efforts to rig it, the senior lawyer, who leads the political party Gano Forum, said, “Thousands of people will go to vote and the voters will have to guard the polling stations.”
His call came on Saturday while addressing a rally organised by a newly-floated lawyers’ platform ‘Jatiya Ainjibi Oikyafront’ on the premises of Supreme Court Bar Association in Dhaka.
“We, the people need to realise that we are the source of power and the real owner of the country.
“There are 20 million first time voters this time and they are the owner of the country. The ruling party will flex muscle, but we need to march forward,” said the top Oikya Front leader.
The government’s interference in the judiciary is rampant during this regime, said Dr Kamal.
“Former chief justice SK Sinha had to pay for the 16th Amendment ruling.”





Referring to the 2014 election, boycotted by the BNP and its allies, when 154 candidates were elected unopposed, he said, “The government even published a gazette notification on it, which to me is a waste of paper.”
Blaming the incumbent administration of skulduggery, Dr Kamal told the rally that after the 2014 polls, the government said that it will give another election soon but it never happened.
Jatiya Oikya Front leader and Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain speaks at the rally at the city’s Suhrawardy Udyan on Tuesday (Nov 6).“If there was an award for deception, then they deserve it.”
Demanding the release of BNP chief Khaleda Zia, now jailed for graft, the Gano Forum president said, “She was the prime minister. We want her released. The chief of a major political party is incarcerated in an abandoned prison when the country is about to see a credible election after a long time.”
Besides her, thousands of political activists are jailed, which he claims creating ‘discrimination amid the election’. “This will neither restore democracy nor uphold the Constitution.”
Reiterating the call for party chief’s release, BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the rally that Khaleda was convicted "entirely in the face of government pressure".
“This needs to be changed. You need to come forward to ensure that no one is tried for their political affiliation,” he urged the lawyers.
The BNP secretary general said that the judiciary is the last resort whenever they were attacked by the government before adding, “But that’s not the case anymore.”
Former chief justice Sinha protested when no one stood up against government’s interference in the judiciary, said Mirza Fakhrul.
“He had told the truth, delivered a just verdict and that’s why he was forced to leave the country.”
Calling lawyers to take to the street for restoring the judiciary’s freedom, he said, “The people will be deprived of rule of law if it’s not ensured.”

/bi/zmi/
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