Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Dr Col (retd) Oli Ahmad on Saturday called for a quick completion of reform works before holding the next national election, reminding all that the time is limited.
“We are telling you that reforms need to be done quickly. Time is short, you have to work fast,” he told reporters after holding a dialogue with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus at state guest house Jamuna.
The LDP chief said the election should be held but before that those who were involved in killings and stealing money should be brought to justice.
“Let us build the house first, and then you can decide in which room you want to stay,” Oli said, apparently indicating that reforms need to be done before the election.
“What’s the point of doing an election if all the thieves and dacoits remain there?” he said, adding that Jamaat (top Jamaat leaders) were hanged (for their crimes against humanity), now Awami League (AL leaders) will have to be hanged.
Oli encouraged the media to build an opinion to that end, saying it is their responsibility. “Nobody is above the law. It is the rule of the law in democracy, which needs to be maintained.”
Noting that one of the points they forgot to share with the Chief Adviser and that is related to recovering stolen money for the looters.
“Those who looted people’s money should be kept in a hotel; or an army and police barrack so that they can sleep on floors instead of soft beds,” Oli said, seeking steps to force the looters to return the money to the State.
He said if this can be done, the country will be benefitted. “Because there is no benefit to making those thieves healthier by keeping them in jail.”
Oli said they placed 23 proposals today, including a demand for a free and fair election; and also addressed the issues of price hike of essentials.
This is the second such dialogue in the current phase, which started on October 5 with the participation of BNP, Jamaat, CPB and some other parties.
Fifteen political parties, including Gono Forum, Liberal Democrats Party (LDP), and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Andaleeve), are among the parties that are invited to join today's dialogue.
The key purpose of the dialogue is to inform the political parties about the progress of the reform work and seek their suggestions.
Meanwhile, a nine-member delegation of Gono Forum joined dialogue with the Chief Adviser Prof Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna.
The team led by Gono Forum emeritus President Dr Kamal Hossain entered Jamuna around 3:00pm.
Almost all political parties had the opportunity to become the part of the ongoing dialogue with the Chief Adviser except Bangladesh Awami League and its key ally Jatiya Party (Ershad).
source: UNB