JSD vows to work from both within, outside govt

If the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) candidates win in the next parliamentary elections, they will work for the country from both within and outside the government and parliament, party chief Hasanul Haq Inu said yesterday.
The president of the JSD made the statement during announcement of party's manifesto at the party office on the capital's Bangabandhu Avenue.
Sharif Nurul Ambia, general secretary of the JSD, a component of the 14-party alliance government, read out their manifesto of the election set for Sunday.
As in the last national election, four leaders of JSD got nominations as 14-party alliance candidate who are contesting with the "boat" symbol, while 19 others are contesting with JSD symbol "torch". As a party, it is also supporting independent candidates in three constituencies.
Inu, also the information minister, said that since the Supreme Court verdict regarding cancellation of the caretaker government system, the government had invited the opposition BNP several times to discuss the poll-time government which they ignored and now they were trying to foil the election and democratic process demanding an election under a caretaker government.  
The BNP-Jamaat-Hefajat alliance has been opposing this government from the very beginning and also trying to foil the war crimes trial, he said. Now they are trying to thwart the constitutional and democratic process, he added.
The information minister said the government had no alternative to holding the election in the present circumstances to uphold the constitution.   
In a written statement, the party said that though the 14-party alliance government had failures to some extent in ensuring good governance and controlling corruptions, the government had taken significant steps in socio-economic and structural development and gained tremendous successes in ensuring justice for crimes against humanity, power generation, education, health, social safety, advancement of women and welfare of freedom fighters.   
Pledges in the JSD's 31-point election manifesto include defending the sprit of the Liberation War in all aspects of the government, controlling militancy, ensuring secularism, transparency and accountability, protecting rights of the indigenous people and religious minorities, eradicating corruption, strengthening local government, preserving 33 percent of parliamentary seats for women, allocating 5 percent of resources in poverty eradication programmes,  environment conservation and arranging military training for all citizens who are above 18.