Urging the people to rise up in its first rally in Dhaka since its inception last month, the Jatiya Oikya Front has warned the government of tougher agitations if its demands to ensure fair polls are not met.

“It can’t be accepted in anyway what is happening in the country. The rule of law is being violated as people are being arrested and jailed as per whims ... the Constitution is also being completely ignored,” the alliance’s leader Dr Kamal Hossain told the rally at the capital’s Suhrawardy Udyan.

Calling the people to stand firm against injustice, the Gano Forum president said, “You (the people) are the owners of the country. You need to rise to get it back.”

Urging coalition leaders and activists to make no compromise in continuing the movement against the government until the people’s right to vote is ensured, he said, “Independence becomes meaningless if there’s no fair election.”

He said the country’s people must play a role in ensuring a fair and acceptable election. “We all must guard the polling stations unitedly and also cast our votes. Guarding polling centres means guarding the independence.”

Claiming that there is no rule of law in the country, he urged the government to immediately release all political prisoners, including BNP chief Khaleda Zia.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced fresh protest programmes.

The Oikya Front will organise a Rajshahi-bound march on Thursday (Nov 8) if the government does not accept its demands and hold a rally in the northern metropolis the next day, he said.

The BNP leader said that they will march to the Election Commission if it does not defer the polls until the coalition’s seven-point demands are met.

The Oikya Front is scheduled to hold a second round of talks for fair polls with ruling Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday (Nov 7) after the alliance found “no specific solution” to the issues it raised in the first round on Nov 1.

He said despite the prime minister’s during Ganabhaban talks, arrests of opposition activists and supporters are continuing.

Fakhrul urged the government to stop arrests. “Or else, we’ll defeat the government and realise our seven-point demand through a movement together with people.”

BNP National Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the country’s people are united over Oikya Front’s demands and that they want to resolve the political problem through talks without any violence.

BNP leader Moudud Ahmed told the rally they will not have to wage a movement if the government does not resolve the issues talks.

JSDP president ASM Abdur Rab said they have waged a movement for freeing people from misrule and restoring democracy. “We must win the struggle.”

He warned the government that they will not return home until their demands are met to hold a neutral election.

Rab urged the government to release BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and other political prisoners and not to arrest political leaders and activists for the ensuring a participatory election.

Krishak Sramik Janata League President Kader Siddiqui, the newest member in the coalition, called upon BNP leaders and activists to strongly stand up under the banner of Oikya Front to win the next polls.

He said Awami League falsely accuses BNP of allowing the anti-Liberation elements in the government. “It’s Awami League who gave Sarishabari’s Rajakar Nur Moulana the national flag.”

Nagorik Oikya convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna said they will again sit in talks on Wednesday and place their demands before the Prime Minister again. “If you want to remain within the Constitution, then dissolve parliament and form a new government without Sheikh Hasina.”

He also said they will take to the streets across the country if their demands are not met.

The senior leaders of the alliance, including Gonoshasthya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, Oikya Prokriya’s Sultan Mohammad Mansur, Gono Forum general secretary Mostafa Mohshin Montu, BNP standing committee members Jamiruddin Sircar, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Abdul Moyeen Khan, spoke at the public rally.