Daily Bangla Times:   The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday alleged that the government was planning to retain power through another stage-managed election, as it did earlier in 2014 and 2018.

‘We think that the government wants to hold a unilateral election as before, That is why they have rejected the UN’s proposal [for cooperation in the next national election],’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.

Fakhrul made the remark while speaking at a press briefing after a meeting with the 12-party liaison committee at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.

The BNP secretary general was referring to the remarks of foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, who on Monday said that Bangladesh had become mature enough and that there was no need to take help from the United Nations for holding the parliamentary elections.

Fakhrul said that if the BNP and its alliance partners do not participate in the election under the Awami League government, there would be no legitimacy to the polls.

‘This is the reality. That’s why the chief election commissioner said yesterday [Thursday] that if the major parties do not participate, the legitimacy of the election would remain in question.’

Fakhrul suspected that influential ruling party leaders might be behind the Bangabazar fire to grab land.

‘Some very influential members of the ruling Awami League had long been trying to occupy the Bangabazar market. If a real, impartial investigation is conducted, it may be known that Awami League people carried out the arson attack,’ he said.

The BNP leader said that their party wants a neutral probe into the incident to unearth the truth.

Justifying his remark about the involvement of the ruling party leaders in the market fire, Fakhrul said that the government had started talking about constructing multi-storey buildings at Bangabazar just a day after the incident.

A massive fire broke out at the Bangabazar Shopping Complex in Dhaka on Tuesday morning, and it spread to some other nearby markets, burning several thousand shops, mainly ready-made garment and footwear stores, to ashes.

On Thursday, Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader said that investigations were being carried out to unearth whether the BNP was involved in the devastating fire incident at Bangabazar or not.

He also alleged that the BNP was trying to politicise the fire incident instead of standing beside the fire-affected people.

Mostafa Jamal Haidar, the coordinator of the 12-party alliance, said that they discussed with the BNP leaders the next course of action of the simultaneous movement to realise their 10-point demand, including the resignation of the government and holding the next polls under a non-party neutral administration.

He said that they would intensify the movement in the days to come and make it a success with the united efforts of all.

BNP standing committee members Nazrul Islam Khan and Selima Rahman were also present at the meeting.