National Citizen Party convener Nahid Islam on Friday said that consensus among political parties could pave the way for holding the constituent assembly and parliamentary elections simultaneously in the desired timeframe.
鈥業 don鈥檛 think that elections in December are impossible, rather it all depends on political will and consensus,鈥� he said at a press conference held at the Jatiya Nagorik Committee office in the capital Dhaka.
The newly launched party held its first press conference on Friday.
Student leaders of the聽 July-August mass uprising that ousted the authoritarian Awami League regime announced the new political party on February 28.
Nahid said that elections were not the only demand of the NCP, they also demanded justice for the mass killings that occurred during the July uprising and the implementation of the July declaration and July charter on reforms.
Referring to his recent interview with Reuters, Nahid said that he had mentioned that it would be very difficult to hold elections in such a fragile situation, given the current law and order condition and the precarious state of the police.
鈥楤ut a few media outlets mistranslated my statement, claiming that I had told it was not possible to hold elections this year, which is not what I exactly said,鈥� he said.
鈥楶eople joined the July uprising with the aspirations for a change in the state and justice for the July killing victims. And we must fulfil these two aspirations before holding any elections,鈥� Nahid said.
He also said that the NCP considered the context more important than the timing of the elections.
Replying to a question about the possibility of the NCP forming an alliance with the other political parties, Nahid said, 鈥榃e have just launched our party and are currently working to expand our activities at the rural level. It will take time before we can express our stance regarding an election alliance.鈥�
The NCP in its press conference expressed grave concern over the recent incidents of violence against women across the country and urged the government to take action against the people involved with the crime.
The NCP convener also said that female members of the party were facing cyberbullying and harassment.
He stated that individuals aligned with the fallen fascists were committing cybercrimes, and he called on the government to take action against them.
In response to another question, Nahid said that after the formation of a political party and a student organisation, the position of coordinators of Student Against Discrimination no longer existed.
鈥榃e will request law enforcement agencies to take action, as per law, against anyone who tries to engage in misconduct using the identity of the coordinator,鈥� he said.
NCP member secretary Akhter Hossain said that they had held a general meeting of the party and decided to organise an iftar mahfil for the family members of martyrs and those injured in the July uprising at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital on Monday.
The party also announced an iftar mahfil in honour of political parties, civil society and the business community on Tuesday.聽聽聽聽
