PM's press briefing

WHILE a beaming, confident and self-satisfied PM claimed to have received mandate of the people in the 5 January election speaking to the press yesterday, we humbly differ on that count. Our estimate drawn from data received from the EC suggests around 32 percent turnout. Whereas that is debatable, what cannot be contested is the fact that in the past three elections the turnout was in the region of 70 percent  
We must say that the PM is not in sync with the existing political reality. Given her position that this election was a Constitutional compulsion, we need to emphasise that it will not by any means resolve the current political instability. It was thus disappointing that the substance and tenor of her comments lacked any direction to resolve the political flux.
It would also be unfair, and indeed unwise to draw a broad brush of 'anti-liberation or antidemocratic' on all those who did not participate in the election. We do not believe that nearly 70 who chose not to vote are anti-liberation.
The allusion to the status of the BNP after 24 January, when the present parliament will cease to exist, is indicative of her mind. We would like to emphasise that whether it technically qualifies as opposition or not after 24 January, the BNP as the second largest party in the country, cannot be kept out of the political equation or out of any future political discourse. The BNP for its part should also realise that violence is not the solution to the problem that the country is facing.