No immediate plan to ban Jamaat politics
Says Syed Ashraf
The government has no intention to ban politics of Jamaat-e-Islami right now, said Local Government and Rural Development & Co-operatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday.
However, there would be no concession for those who committed crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War, he added.
Ashraful, also the Awami League (AL) general secretary, was talking to journalists at Biswanath upazila headquarters in Sylhet after laying the foundation stone of the upazila auditorium.
He said the government agencies were sincerely trying to find the whereabouts of former lawmaker and BNP Organising Secretary (Sylhet Division) M Ilias Ali and, once known, his family would be immediately informed.
Biswanath is part of the constituency (Sylhet-2) of Ilias. He and his driver went missing on April 17 and police found his abandoned car in the capital's Banani the next morning.
Elected representatives of the upazila presented a memorandum to Ashraful through the Upazila Nirbahi Officer Sonamoni Chakma, seeking assistance in finding Ilias.
The signatories to the memorandum include Biswanath Upazila Parishad Vice-Chairman and the upazila BNP General Secretary Gous Khan, Vice-Chairperson Shova Akhtar Angura and Biswanath Union Parishad Chairman and the upazila BNP President Jalal Uddin.
Earlier addressing a views-exchange meeting of the district and city AL at Circuit House, Ashraful said there was no alternative to an election in forming a government in a democratic system.
AL, having been long in the politics for the people, will come to power again through people's mandate. “We rely on the masses. We do not have the strength of arms or money,†he said.
Despite the controversies, there will no doubt be a free and fair election in Bangladesh and the opposition will hopefully get their good senses and join it, he said.
Sylhet city Mayor and city AL President Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran was also present.
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