Awami League (AL) president Sheikh Hasina has said there is no room in the ruling party for “reformists”, who supported a party shake-up when she was interned in jail during the army-backed caretaker government in the country.
“None of them will be in the new executive committee of the party to be formed through the upcoming national council,” she said.
The 20th national council of Bangladesh Awami League will be held on October 22-23 at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital.
The AL president, also the prime minister of the country, was speaking at a meeting of the Awami League Central Working Committee (ALCWC) that lasted for about five hours at her official residence Ganabhaban.
Talking to newsmen, AL office secretary Abdus Sobhan Golap, who was present at the meeting, quoted Hasina as saying that those who wanted to exclude her (Hasina) from the AL during the 1/11 changeover would not have any seat in the new executive committee.
The AL chief, however, did not mention any names, Golap added.
He also said the party high-ups unanimously approved some changes to the party constitution and the declaration paper for the council programme.
“The ALCWC approved a draft of the party constitution expanding the size of the working committee, a key policy-making body of the party,” he said.
As per the decision, the ALCWC that had 73 members will now have 81 members.
The extension will include four posts of the presidium, one joint general secretary, one organising secretary and two member posts of the central working committee.
“The proposal for turning the ALCWC into an 81-member body was taken as the incumbent party president returned to Bangladesh in 1981 and she was elected party president in the same year,” said a leader on condition of anonymity.
The meeting also approved the list of 6,570 councillors, who will elect the next leadership through the 20th council session.
Meeting sources said party president Sheikh Hasina withdrew her name from the councillors’ list and expunged the names of her daughter Saima Wazed Putul and Sheikh Rehana’s son Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby from the same list.
She also directed other central leaders to avoid becoming councillors from their respective districts.
“I am withdrawing my name as councillor from Gopalganj.
You should also withdraw your names from the list of councillors from your respective districts so that more leaders from the grassroots level can come forward as councillors,” said a source quoting the AL president as saying.
The meeting was told that some 52 foreign guests from different countries, including Russia, Canada, Australia, Austria, The Netherlands and India would join the forthcoming council session of the AL, which was founded on June 23 in 1949 at Rose Garden on KM Das Lane in Dhaka.
The meeting discussed elaborately about the session, which would elect the new leadership for facing the upcoming challenges and the next parliamentary polls.
A three-member election commission was formed to facilitate the party council.
lPrime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday asked the journalist community to sincerely discharge their responsibilities and duties towards the society and the country.
The prime minister made the remarks at the foundation-laying ceremony of 31-storey ‘Bangabandhu Media Complex’ on the National Press Club premises in Dhaka, marking its 62nd founding anniversary.
Sheikh Hasina said her government has so far enacted and formulated 18 laws and rules to ensure facilities for the journalist community.
“It can’t be that you’ll enjoy facilities, but won’t discharge your duties...
there is a responsibility to the country, you have to perform that...you have got a responsibility to society, you’ll have to perform it, too,” she said.
About Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s claim that now there is no scope for independent journalism in the country, the prime minister said: “There’s enough freedom for journalism in Bangladesh right now.”
Hasina said sometimes she has to face questions about the scope of journalism in the country due to the negative propaganda of the opposition. “In reply, I tell them if there’s no freedom of press then how they get the scope to speak and how do they come up with these allegations.”
The prime minister mentioned that some 750 dailies are currently published across the country in addition to 23-24 television channels and some radio stations.
“After hearing talk shows, can one say there’s no freedom of expression, there’s no freedom of opinion,” she questioned.
On the trend of newspaper owners to become editors, the prime minister said journalism sometimes faces hurdle because of this.
The Bangabandhu Media Complex will have a cineplex, library,
media museum, guesthouse, dormitory, IT room, and garden, with each of its floors having 22,000 sq ft of space.
There will also be a helipad on its rooftop.
Chaired by National Press Club president Shafiqur Rahman, the function was also addressed, among others, by information minister Hasanul Haq Inu, PM’s media adviser Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury,
Editors’ Council chairman Golam Sarwar, general secretary Quamrul Islam Chowdhury and president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) Monjurul Ahsan Bulbul.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday hailed the ruling Awami League (AL) for inviting them to join its national council.
He said they will decide at their party forum whether they would join it or not.
“We thank Awami League for inviting us to attend its council.
We’ll finalise it latter whether we’ll join it or not,” he told reporters at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
Earlier in the morning, a five-member AL delegation, led by its deputy office secretary Mrinal Kanti Das, went to BNP’s central office, and handed over cards to Fakhrul inviting him and BNP chief Khaleda Zia to join their council to be held on October 22-23.
Mentioning that no one from AL had joined BNP’s March 19 national council, Fakhrul said: “We could have been happy had they (AL) joined our council at our invitation. Though regretfully, it’s a fact they didn’t take part in our council.”
He also alleged that the ruling party tried to obstruct their council instead of extending its co-operation.
The BNP leader said they have already welcomed AL’s council and wished its all-out success as they do positive politics.“We hope they’ll take an initiative from this council for the restoration of democracy which has been annihilated by them,” he observed.
As his attention was drawn to Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam’s comment that the current election system will remain unchanged during the next parliament election, Fakhrul said the ruling party leaders are making such statements as they still could not realise the main reason behind the current political crisis.
He also said there will be no representatives of people and their hopes and aspirations will not be reflected if the election system is not changed.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laying the foundation of the 31-storey ‘Bangabandhu Media Complex’ at the National Press Club in Dhaka yesterday, marking its 62nd founding anniversary.
