No polls with emergency on, without Hasina

The Awami League (AL) yesterday said it won't take part in any elections amid the state of emergency and without party chief Sheikh Hasina, who is currently in the US for treatment.
"Elections can't be held under the state of emergency. Lift the emergency first and then we will think about taking part in the local government elections," said AL acting President Zillur Rahman while addressing a discussion at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh.
The AL organised the discussion marking its 59th founding anniversary with Zillur in the chair.
The AL Central Working Committee (ALCWC) sits today to take a formal decision whether to take part in the city corporation and municipality polls at Hasina's political office in Dhanmondi.
Presidium member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury asked the government to lift emergency immediately and hold the general elections first.
AL presidium member Amir Hossain Amu said the people now want AL government for development of the country, as only during their tenure prices of essentials were reasonable.
Another Presidium member Abdur Razzak alleged BNP is hatching conspiracy against the country and its people. He urged all to resist the conspiracy unitedly.
Echoing Zillur, presidium member Tofail Ahmed said AL won't contest any elections under the emergency and without Hasina.
"The state of emergency is now a burden for the people, so the government should lift it immediately," he said urging the government to cancel the announced schedule for the local polls.
"Hold the Jatiya Sangsad elections by October," AL presidium member Motia Chowdhury asked the government.
She added: "If the Election Commission can hold elections to 468 upazilas in October, they can also make it for 300 constituencies."
Acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said there is no alternative to AL government now. Referring to different development work during the AL rule in 1996-2001, he said the poor were in comfort as they could buy rice at Tk 10 per kg.
AL leaders Ataur Rahman Khan Kaisar, Mukul Bose, Abdul Mannan, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Sultan Muhammad Mansur Ahmed, Abdur Rahman, MA Aziz and Adv Qamrul Islam also spoke.
Protesting against the recent remarks of some BNP leaders that AL had negotiations with the government, Mannan and Rahman said as a party BNP always looks for conspiracy as its birth was through conspiracy.
It is the BNP that always looks for conspiracy to go to power and to prolong to power, they added.
HASINA ON POLLS
Awami League (AL) chief Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all to remain united to ensure victory in the upcoming parliamentary election.
“At this moment, you [party and countrymen] will have to be united forgetting all enmity to take the country forward,” Hasina, a former prime minister, said in her brief address to the party workers at Hyatt Regency Hotel besides Orlando airport in Florida, who came there to greet her.
The AL chief also observed that the national election should be held prior to all other polls.
She reached Florida yesterday and underwent follow-up ear treatment last night, according to a report of New York-based news agency News World.
Hasina will fly for Toronto, Canada this morning to see her only daughter Saima Wazed Putul.
The former prime minister left Dhaka for medical treatment in the US a day after she was temporarily released from the special jail on the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban premises on June 11.
“The price of rice was Tk 10 per kg during Awami League rule, which is now Tk 40. Besides, the price of other essentials skyrocketed several times,” Hasina said, adding that due to this, the people of the country want to see the AL back in power.
She said Bangladesh would have to be turned into a developed country by 2020 and for this, all should work together.
Responding to a query while exchanging views with US-based Bangla language news agency American News Agency (ANA) about how the proclamation paper of the War of Independence was lost, Sheikh Hasina said, “Those were not lost. Those documents had been removed during Zia's regime in a bid to distort the history.”
Hasina prayed for the early recovery of former home minister Mohammad Nasim who has been undergoing treatment at Labaid Hospital in Dhaka since Tuesday.