Staff Correspondent

Former caretaker government advisor Hossain Zillur Rahman attends a session of national dialogue on “Unity in Which Way”, at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium in the capital on December 27, 2024.

It will be dangerous to go to polls amid unrest, former caretaker government advisor Hossain Zillur Rahman commented on Friday.

He hoped political leaders would agree with him. He thinks the desire aroused through the political changeover is obviously the desire to regain voting rights. Added to this are two more desires – one is insaf (justice) and another is dignity.

Hossain Zillur Rahman said this while participating in a session of national dialogue on “Unity in Which Way”, at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh (KIB) auditorium in the capital on Friday afternoon.

Friday was the first day of the two-day dialogue on unity, reforms and elections. The dialogue has been organised by the Forum for Bangladesh Studies (FBS).

Addressing the event, Hossain Zillur Rahman said political changes took place through the unprecedented sacrifice of students and people, and that is the reality.

He said, “The whole world is looking at Bangladesh with curiousity. An unprecedented event has happened in Bangladesh but there is no certainty what will happen next… I expect one thing that political leaders will agree that it will be dangerous that Bangladesh goes to polls in any way amid unrest.”

Hossain Zillur Rahman identified three uncertainties during the interim government tenure. He said, “We are trying to reach destinations with three uncertainties. One is, the economic hardship of the people is deepening as the wheel of our economy is not turning fast enough. We must keep in mind the reality of people’s economic sufferings right now despite how much we discuss unity, reform and elections.”

Regarding the second uncertainty, he said, “We not only ousted the autocratic but also reject a kind of political practices, which mostly consist of occupation, extortion and lawsuits filing. Fear looms large whether we can bid adieu to these practices completely or these practices will arise again.”

“Third, there is uncertainty over the capacity of the interim government. How far can perform in the alleviation of economic hardship, as well as there is a matter of tackling challenges that lie in the evil efforts of the fugitive autocrats. Can the interim government can tackle these challenges, is a question,” Hossain Zillur Rahman said.

Hossain Zillur Rahman opined focus should be on three issues. He said the reviving of conviction is a big achievement as the result of the fall of the autocratic regime. Many tasks must be performed holding this conviction. As a result, a functioning government must bring this issue to the fore. Several problems are surfacing as the government had given the bureaucracy a chance to take the driving seat to some extent at the beginning, but it is possible to overcome.

Secondly, there might be two different thoughts on reforms. Some tasks might be done now to make the state stricture more capable amid the talks on reforms. Focus must be given on some reforms now and some reforms must be implemented through consensus. The third is a political transition, and the right to vote is one of the major issues. All must go ahead by achieving people’s confidence, he added.