Brigadier General (Retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hossain, Adviser to the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Ministry of Shipping, on Monday said there was no condition to hold elections when the interim government assumed office.
The adviser added, however, that the country should hold an election and an elected government should come to power. “The universal democratic process should be established. I haven’t seen the democratic process established in the past 17–18 years. If we can achieve that, it will be a big credit for us,” he said. He also noted that there is no reason why the government cannot ensure a free and fair election.
Sakhawat Hossain made the remarks at a press conference at the Secretariat on Monday (December 8) highlighting the achievements of the Ministry of Labour and Employment over the past year.
When asked whether he was satisfied with the current political situation, the adviser said, “At present, political parties do not know what they will do or what their future holds. Who is moving in which direction? Is this new for Bangladesh? Hasn’t this happened after the so-called 1/11?”
He added, “I would call it political chaos when the government is on one side and the political parties are on the other. Nobody forced us to hold elections within one to one-and-a-half years. When this government came, were there any such conditions? No. We ourselves said that elections will be held. After that, if political parties start competing, the government cannot interfere. So, I am trying to understand where the situation has worsened.”
Asked whether an environment for elections has been created, he said, “That can only be said by the Election Commission.”
Referring to his long tenure at the Election Commission, he added, “I have forgotten. I have nothing to say about the elections. I am ignorant about elections and have no idea. The Election Commission can comment on that.”
He concluded, “Wherever we have gone, we have said elections will be held on time. Nobody forced us to hold elections within a specific timeframe. When we took office on August 8, no one gave us a mandate to hold elections after one, one-and-a-half, or two years. At that time, nothing was fixed—it was blank.”