Today, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus said the interim government is committed to holding the freest, fairest, and acceptable election in the country’s history.
“We want the next polls to be the most free, fair, and acceptable one in Bangladesh’s history,” he said while addressing the nation this evening to convey greetings on Independence Day and the holy Eid-ul-Fitr.
The Chief Adviser said the Election Commission (EC) has started making extensive preparations and hoped the political parties would also begin preparations enthusiastically for the next polls.
In his speech, broadcast live by state-run Bangladesh Television (BTV) and Bangladesh Betar, he reiterated that the polls would be held between December this year and June next year.
Prof Yunus said the National Consensus Commission has already started its work, and 38 political parties have received letters with 166 recommendations and full reports from six reform commissions constituted earlier by the interim government.
Meanwhile, he said, the government has already started talks with the political parties over reforms, and the political parties have responded very positively to the reforms and are expressing their opinions.
He said the political parties are providing their opinions on reform proposals, adding that it is a matter of happiness for the nation that each political party is giving its opinion in favour of the reform.
Prof Yunus mentioned that collecting opinions from all political parties through the Consensus Commission is underway. The commission aims to identify all the issues on which the political parties would agree and prepare a list.
He added that the July Charter will be prepared based on the issues the political parties agree on.
“Our responsibility is to present the entire process before the nation in a transparent way and organise the elections after completing the process,” he said.
At the onset of his speech, the Chief Adviser recalled with profound respect the heroic martyrs of the great Liberation War on the eve of the great Independence Day.
He said March 25 is a day of massacre that remains stigmatised in the history of human civilisation.
“On this night in 1971, the Pakistani occupation forces brutally opened fire on innocent, unarmed and sleeping Bangalees and killed thousands of people. Since March 25, the people of this country had raised armed resistance. Bangladesh became independent through a nine-month war,” he said.
The sacrifices of thousands of martyrs and two lakh oppressed women in the nine-month bloody war gave birth to an independent land called Bangladesh in the world map, Prof Yunus said.
“My salute to these heroes of the liberation war,” he added.
Besides, on behalf of the entire nation, he saluted hundreds of martyrs and injured in the July 2024 uprising, and those who stood up against discrimination, exploitation, torture, and oppression.
“We want to utilise the opportunity that the July mass uprising has given us aiming to fulfill our dream of building a discrimination-free Bangladesh,” the Chief Adviser said.
The Chief Adviser said he spoke to Starlink founder and the world’s top billionaire SpaceX and Tesla owner Elon Musk, over the phone and urged him to start Starlink operations in Bangladesh.
Accordingly, he said, the Starlink representatives are preparing to commence their operations in Bangladesh.
“Work is underway to finalise a commercial agreement with them within three months,” he added.
Claiming that low-cost high-speed internet through Starlink will revolutionize Bangladesh’s digital world, Prof Yunus said that once the Starlink service is launched, every village, island, and remote mountainous area of the country will have ultra-high-speed internet service.
He said that once Starlink is launched, no government in the future will have the scope to lock people’s information by shutting down internet services.
The Chief Adviser said world-class education, healthcare, and the participation of all citizens in the economic sector can be ensured in every region of Bangladesh.
“No matter where our new generation lives in the remotest part of the country, they will have the opportunity to build themselves as world citizens,” he said.
Prof Yunus said the government has formulated the ‘Youth Entrepreneurship Policy 2025’ regarding entrepreneurship. Its goal is to empower young men and women as the main drivers of social, economic, and environmental progress.
He said this policy will help create successful entrepreneurs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adding that the contribution of young entrepreneurs to the social and economic spheres will be recognised.
Mentioning that United Nations Secretary-General Ant›nio Guterres visited the Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar a few days ago, the Chief Adviser said they had Iftar with one lakh Rohingyas living in camps.
“Having agreed to our proposal, the UN General Assembly is preparing to organise a separate session on the Rohingya crisis in September.
“Malaysia and Finland have come forward to jointly host this conference. In addition, I invited former acting Australian Prime Minister Julie Bishop to play a key role in this important meeting. She has accepted my proposal,” he said.
During his visit to Bangladesh, Prof Yunus said the UN chief held separate meetings with members of the National Consensus Commission, political leaders, and youth.
In the meeting, he said, everyone told the UN Secretary-General about their dream of building a ‘New Bangladesh’.
About the recent report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, he said it released a detailed report after thoroughly investigating the repression and killings carried out by the Sheikh Hasina government and the Awami League on students, workers and the public in Bangladesh in the July-August.
Stating that the Awami League and cohorts were involved in planned severe human rights violation, the Chief Adviser said the report reveals that about 1,400 people were killed during the July protests, while about 13 percent of them were children.
“Being on the frontlines of the protests, our July daughters have been attacked by security forces and the Awami League supporters, and even sexually abused,” he said.
Welcoming this report, Prof Yunus said, the interim government is seriously considering the recommendations made in it.
“I would like to assure you that those who were involved in mass killing, those who killed people indiscriminately, those who are already recognised by the world as murderers, will be tried on the soil of this country,” he asserted.
Cox’s Bazar Life Desk/BSS
