Interview by Abu Sayed Khan

Acting AL president and former foreign minister Abdus Samad Azad has favoured a broad-based convention of all political parties instead of a partisan one to address the major national issues effectively.

But, he said, “before that, we, the politicians, have to make a way out to reach that goal and we can’t achieve it overnight”.
 
In an interview with the bangladeshinfo.com, the veteran politician clearly showed a cold shoulder to the ongoing moves to organise conventions on party lines.

He sees “consensus is a missing element in the present way of governing the country by the BNP-led alliance government”.

The AL Acting president, however, aired the party’s standpoint, as, in his views, the October 1 election was rigged and the new government lost its credibility and moral ground to rule the nation.

He expressed his indignation over the scrapping of special security act for former premier Sheikh Hasina and her sister Sheikh Rehena as well as cancellation of the public holidays on August 15 and March 17 by the BNP-led four-party coalition government.

“How come, the move to harass the opposition could be agenda for a government? It should never be a programme to file false cases against opposition leaders and workers and repress the minority for not giving votes,” he said insisting that the government should concentrate more on the development activities of the nation.

The acting AL chief once again questioned the authenticity of the October 1 parliamentary polls, which his party lost to the BNP-led four-party Alliance. He blamed the Caretaker Government and the Election Commission (EC) for misusing the armed forces in a planned manner “to destroy the spirit of the national consensus and snatch the voting rights of the people”.

Azad justified their demand for fresh polls, saying that it would ensure the voting rights of the masses and help forge a broad-based national consensus. When asked under which authority they want fresh elections, he said the concept of Caretaker Government did not work in the last polls, but his party is yet to work out an alternative to that constitutional arrangement. “For the time being, we will also have to rely more on local observers in monitoring polls rather than foreign observers to ensure free and fair elections,” he pointed out.

When his attention was drawn to decline in people’s confidence on the politicians, the AL leader, admitting the fact, further regretted that the EC and the Caretaker Government too had lost credibility in the last general elections.

Dwelling on the AL’s effort to form a consensus government after winning the 1996 general elections, he claimed that AL always tried to build national consensus and cited that BAKSAL was an endeavour to forge that kind of consensus.  

Asked what would be AL’s stand on building a consensus including Jamaat, a partner of ruling coalition with 17 seats in parliament, the octogenarian politician sharply reacted, “After 30 years of independence they still dream for Pakistan. Let them first accept the independence. Let them first confess what crimes they had committed in 1971, what they did on 14th December of 1971.”

“In any case, the only alternative we have is to try for attaining a consensus to expedite the overall national development. We don’t believe in clinging to power. We can achieve the goal of consensus through respecting each others’ views and ideas by showing patience, maintaining rule of law and upholding the Constitution. Let Allah help all of us to work together for the greater good and overall prosperity of the nation.”
 
E-mail: sayed@bangladeshinfo.com