Dhaka (TDI): The leader of Bangladesh’s key political party Khaleda Zia on Thursday urged the interim authorities to undertake “minimal” reforms so elections can be conducted swiftly after a revolution last year.
“People expect a widely accepted vote after swift and minimal reforms to restore the nation’s democratic system,” Zia, a former prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh National Party, said in a statement.
Zia, 79, served as prime minister of Bangladesh twice but was imprisoned for corruption in 2018 during the tenure of Sheikh Hasina, her successor and lifelong rival.
She was released after Hasina was toppled in August last year and fled into exile in India, before flying to Britain in January for medical treatment, from where she made an online address to party members, her first in 6 years.
Khaleda urged BNP members to unite the party and prepare to lead both the movements and the country.
“Bangladesh is going through a critical period. The fascist regime was toppled due to the mass movements led by students and yourselves.”
Hasina’s government was accused of politicising courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided polls, to dismantle democratic checks on its power.
Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel Prize-winning microfinance pioneer who heads the interim government, has established commissions to oversee a raft of reforms.
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He has said setting an election date depends on what political parties agree upon but hopes they would be conducted in late 2025 or early 2026.
Zia called on people to unite to tackle deteriorating law and order situation in the country.
She stated, “Friends and allies of the fascists are hatching conspiracies to spoil the achievements of the mass protests.”
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“We must foil these conspiracies through strong unity among ourselves and with the people of Bangladesh.”
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
