Take to the streets to oust govt

Jatiya Oikyafront Convener Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday urged all to take to the streets as part of a movement to bring down the government.

“No more indoor meetings. We will hit the streets together …,” he said at a meeting at the Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Oikyafront, a platform of several opposition parties, organised the programme to press for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release from jail.

Khaleda landed in jail on February 8, 2018 after a lower court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Yesterday was the second anniversary of her imprisonment.

“Taking to the streets we have to say that democracy will prevail in the country and it will be run according to the constitution,” said Kamal, also the president of Gonoforum.

He claimed that all had to tolerate farce which came in the form of elections. “Unelected people usurped power and continue to run the country. People will not accept that. They should get united and snatch their rights.

“A government should be formed through a true, free, and fair election. The government should be formed by the party getting the majority in that election.

“Only raising the demand for the government’s resignation would not be enough, it has to be brought down from power. People who are the owner of the country should act as the true owner.”

The Jatiya Oikyafront top leader said that if people are deprived of freedom, they become victims of corruption and looting. “None can give autocracy an institutional shape. Those who had tried to do that [in the past] faced dire consequences,” he added.

Talking on Khaleda’s release, he said, “48 years after the country’s independence, the words ‘political prisoners sound strange. It is unimaginable that we have to demand her release and hold meetings in this regard.”

Speaking at the meeting, BNP standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan too urged all to wage a united movement to oust the government.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President ASM Abdur Rab said the government “must release Khaleda if it wanted to leave power peacefully”.

Oikyafront leader and Gonoshasthaya Kendra trustee Zafrullah Chowdhury opined that it would not be wise to take part in any election unless Khaleda was freed.

Among others, Nagorik Oikya Convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna and Gonoforum’s Executive President Subrata Chowdhury also spoke at the programme yesterday.