The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Awami League acting president Zillur Rahman yesterday threatened to wage a tough movement if party chief Sheikh Hasina, now in the USA for treatment, was not released permanently before Eid-ul-Fitr.

Zillur Rahman also accused the government of indulging in a deep-rooted conspiracy to defer the stalled parliamentary elections, slated for the third week of December as per the government and Election Commission-declared roadmap.

"The government must release our leader Sheikh Hasina before the Eid, or else, we'll have no option but to go for a tough movement to free our great leader Sheikh Hasina," he said.

He was talking to reporters when a delegation of Phulbaria Pourasava led by its mayor Golam Kibria came to meet him at his Gulshan residence this noon.

Zillur also questioned the government's motive behind their attempts to bring Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia to the negotiation table saying that the government was "doing excesses" in this regard.

Later, Zillur Rahman at a discussion meeting, commemorating the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, accused the government of designing to defer the long-awaited national election.

Tungipara Association in Dhaka arranged the meeting at the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) auditorium with Sheikh Kabir Hossain in the chair.

Awami League presidium members Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Abdur Razzak, Suranjit Sengupta, acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, former president of Dhaka University Teachers' Association (DUTA) Prof. Dr AAMS Arefin Siddique, among others, addressed the meeting.

"The conspiracy against the parliamentary elections is very clear. In the name of upazila election, the government is trying to create an anarchic situation in the country," he said.

Zillur asked the government to explain why it cannot arrange the national election before upazila polls.

"The government has its preparations to arrange elections in 300 upazilas then what's its problem in arranging the parliamentary polls?" he questioned.

He was highly critical of the caretaker government as the "real corrupts" are now getting released from jail.

"The Hawa Bhaban Hero (Tarique Rahman) and his mother Khaleda are now free. But the most innocent person, Sheikh Hasina, has not been released yet. How unfortunate the matter is!" he said.

Zillur also alleged that the government is trying to rehabilitate those politicians who were responsible for the political crisis of 1/11.

He asked the government to fully lift the state of emergency and declare a specific date for the parliamentary elections.

Amir Hossain Amu said the anti-liberation forces have again planned to foil the parliamentary elections, as they want to bring back militancy and communalism in the country.

"When leader of the country's pro-liberation and progressive people Sheikh Hasina is yet to be released permanently, Khaled Zia, Tarique Rahman who were the key persons behind the rising militancy are now free," he said.