NEW DELHI: Thousands of activists and leaders from the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party took to the streets of Dhaka on Tuesday to call for a democratic change through elections. They gathered outside the BNP headquarters, chanting slogans and demanding a fresh election, as the interim government has not yet provided a timeline for when polling will occur.
Headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus , the interim government has announced numerous plans to reform various sectors of the country, ranging from the Election Commission to financial institutions. However, major political parties - including the BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia - are demanding a new election anytime soon.
Yunus took command of the nation after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country during a mass uprising last month, ending a 15-year spell in power, since which she has been living in India. The protests that began in July soon morphed into an anti-government movement.
Yunus hasn't outlined the topic of a new national election in his recent speeches and said they would stay in power as long as the people want them to stay. Recently, a team of newspaper editors said that Yunus should complete crucial reforms first and stay in power for at least two years.
Initially, BNP demanded an election within three months, but later said it wanted to allow the interim government time for reforms. The country's main Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, which was once officially an alliance partner under Zia's party, also wants to give the Yunus-led government more time before an election.
Tarique Rahman, the BNP's acting chairman and heir apparent to Zia, addressed supporters online from London, where he has been in exile since 2008. On Tuesday, he expressed that while his party supports the interim government's proposed reforms, these changes will only be enduring if the public has a voice in the process. He didn't specify a date for new elections but said any reforms must be endorsed in the next parliament.
"Only a free and fair election can ensure the political empowerment of the people," he said.
He further added that reforms by the Yunus-led government should focus on installing an elected parliament and a new government that would empower the people politically.
"To ensure such an election, reforms must be made in the Election Commission, public administration and security agencies, enabling them to perform effectively," Rahman said.
Meanwhile, two senior journalists were interrogated in a Dhaka court for murder charges while they were held in custody. Shyamal Dutta, editor of Bengali-language Bhorer Kagoj and former general secretary of the National Press Club in Dhaka, and Mozammel Babu, managing director and editor-in-chief of private station Ekattor TV, were arrested on Monday as they attempted to escape to India. The two journalists face murder charges related to student-led protests and were close to Hasina.
Since Hasina’s fall from power, more than 150 journalists have faced charges like murder and crime against humanity drawing criticism from groups like Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, and the Human Rights Watch.
After two other journalists were arrested last month and more cases were filed against others, the RSF demanded a halt to such cases.
"The purge of journalists who are considered to be affiliated with the former government has reached a new level. Media professionals are bearing the brunt of the need for vengeance that permeates this terrible legal cabal, which is hurting the image of the political transition underway in Bangladesh," said Antoine Bernard, RSF's director of Advocacy and Assistance.
"The interim authorities, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, must do everything in their power to end this vicious process," Bernard said.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of the agency's Asia division, told news agency The Associated Press the previous month that it was "extremely concerning that the justice system is replicating its abusive and partisan behavior since the fall of the Awami League government (of Hasina), with arbitrary arrests and failure in due process, merely reversing those targeted."
Headed by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus , the interim government has announced numerous plans to reform various sectors of the country, ranging from the Election Commission to financial institutions. However, major political parties - including the BNP, headed by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia - are demanding a new election anytime soon.
Yunus took command of the nation after former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country during a mass uprising last month, ending a 15-year spell in power, since which she has been living in India. The protests that began in July soon morphed into an anti-government movement.
Yunus hasn't outlined the topic of a new national election in his recent speeches and said they would stay in power as long as the people want them to stay. Recently, a team of newspaper editors said that Yunus should complete crucial reforms first and stay in power for at least two years.
Initially, BNP demanded an election within three months, but later said it wanted to allow the interim government time for reforms. The country's main Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami party, which was once officially an alliance partner under Zia's party, also wants to give the Yunus-led government more time before an election.
Tarique Rahman, the BNP's acting chairman and heir apparent to Zia, addressed supporters online from London, where he has been in exile since 2008. On Tuesday, he expressed that while his party supports the interim government's proposed reforms, these changes will only be enduring if the public has a voice in the process. He didn't specify a date for new elections but said any reforms must be endorsed in the next parliament.
"Only a free and fair election can ensure the political empowerment of the people," he said.
He further added that reforms by the Yunus-led government should focus on installing an elected parliament and a new government that would empower the people politically.
"To ensure such an election, reforms must be made in the Election Commission, public administration and security agencies, enabling them to perform effectively," Rahman said.
Meanwhile, two senior journalists were interrogated in a Dhaka court for murder charges while they were held in custody. Shyamal Dutta, editor of Bengali-language Bhorer Kagoj and former general secretary of the National Press Club in Dhaka, and Mozammel Babu, managing director and editor-in-chief of private station Ekattor TV, were arrested on Monday as they attempted to escape to India. The two journalists face murder charges related to student-led protests and were close to Hasina.
Since Hasina’s fall from power, more than 150 journalists have faced charges like murder and crime against humanity drawing criticism from groups like Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, and the Human Rights Watch.
After two other journalists were arrested last month and more cases were filed against others, the RSF demanded a halt to such cases.
"The purge of journalists who are considered to be affiliated with the former government has reached a new level. Media professionals are bearing the brunt of the need for vengeance that permeates this terrible legal cabal, which is hurting the image of the political transition underway in Bangladesh," said Antoine Bernard, RSF's director of Advocacy and Assistance.
"The interim authorities, headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, must do everything in their power to end this vicious process," Bernard said.
Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy director of the agency's Asia division, told news agency The Associated Press the previous month that it was "extremely concerning that the justice system is replicating its abusive and partisan behavior since the fall of the Awami League government (of Hasina), with arbitrary arrests and failure in due process, merely reversing those targeted."
