Déjà vu Khulna elections?
We are surprised by the recent developments ahead of the June 26 elections in Gazipur. The arrest of eight coordinators of the BNP Gazipur mayoral candidate by law enforcers only days before the elections does not bode well.
After all the assurances of the Election Commissioner regarding taking "tough action" if there were any hindrances created to prevent a free and fair election, we are faced apparently with a situation where opposition candidates are being intimidated. The EC had promised that there would be no instances of harassing candidates during campaigning, that there would be a level playing field for all those who stood in the election.
It seems that these are just empty promises as the EC could not do anything to stop the arrests. A Returning Officer has said that he had written to the police administration and deputy commissioner of Gazipur asking them to free the arrestees if they were not facing arrest warrants. According to BNP leaders out of the eight BNP men arrested the police have admitted to arresting only two. This only creates more anxiety and uncertainty among the public.
The police, of course, have given their own version of the story saying that one of the arrestees was arrested in a narcotics case and another one under the explosives act. Assuming this is true the timing of the arrests certainly raises eyebrows regarding the motive behind such actions. Also what about the other arrests? What were they based on?
Clearly, the EC has not learnt from the bitter experience of the Khulna elections that were marred by allegations of rigging, booth capture, voter intimidation on the polling day and of course widespread arrests of BNP activists.
It is hard to believe that the arrests of coordinators of the BNP mayoral candidate only a few days before election day is mere coincidence. We expect the EC to ensure that candidates and their supporters are not harassed by law enforcers, that a level playing field is maintained. We also expect our law enforcers to respect such public expectations.
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