& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

No caretaker, no polls

Reiterates Khaleda as BNP caravan reaches Sylhet; communications collapse as around 3,000 vehicles with 15,000 leaders, workers choke highway

RAKIB HASNET Suman, from Sylhet
The much-talked-about road march of the opposition, centring on the demand for a restoration of the caretaker system, reached Sylhet last night amid enthusiastic participation by thousands of party leaders, activists and supporters.
Led by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, the caravan set out around 10:45am from the party's Naya Paltan headquarters and arrived at the venue of the first roadside rally at Narayanganj
around noon.
Khaleda's convoy reached Sylhet Circuit House around 11:15pm. She will address a rally at Alia Madrasa Maidan in the city today.
About three thousand vehicles carried at least 15 thousand members of the party from the capital. The movement of the convoy led to major traffic chaos on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway.
Public transport came to a halt as the motorcade headed towards the northeastern divisional headquarters, resulting in immense suffering for both Dhaka and Sylhet-bound passengers.
Begum Zia's motorcade took about six hours to reach Narsingdi. In all this time vehicles bound for the capital could hardly move.
The BNP chief addressed six roadside meetings and reiterated her party's demand for a non-partisan caretaker to oversee the next spate of parliamentary elections. She said the BNP would issue a call for “final action" at the end of the road marches.
"Elections cannot be held under a political government; there has to be a non-party caretaker administration," Khaleda Zia made it clear at her first rally at Torab bus stand intersection in Rupganj, Narayanganj.
“A neutral election commission is also a must for free and fair polls," she added. Terming the present commission biased, the opposition leader said, "We will not accept polls under a commission which lacks impartiality."
The BNP has been talking about an anti-government movement since parliament scrapped the provision for a caretaker administration through the fifteenth amendment to the constitution in June this year. Earlier in May,
the Supreme Court declared the caretaker system illegal.
The opposition says it will never participate in parliamentary elections under the AL-led government.
While Khaleda Zia, leader of the opposition in the House, adopts a tough stance, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her part maintains that the forthcoming general elections would be held under the present administration since the court had declared unconstitutional the provision for a caretaker system.
Yesterday, the BNP chief also called upon the people to join the opposition agitation to compel the government to meet the demands.
She alleged the ruling party had hoodwinked the people by its election pledges to bring down the price of rice to Tk 10 a kg and to ensure free fertilisers and jobs for every family in the country.
The popularity of the government was on the wane, Khaleda said. She stated that the government was busy serving a neighbouring country instead of working for the people.
As the opposition activists marched on, supporters along the highway chanted slogans. They carried placards, banners and portraits of late president Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman. Many were seen presenting sheaves of paddy to their leader.
A beaming Khaleda Zia responded to the crowds on her way to Sylhet by waving fromherjeep.
Security was tight and Rab and police escorted the convoy.
Leaders of the BNP-led four-party alliance components and like-minded parties -- Jamaat Ameer (acting) Maqbul Ahmad, BJP Chairman Andaleev Rahman
Partha, Khelafat Majlish Ameer Moulana M Ishaque and Islami Oikya Jote Secretary General Abdul Latif Nezami, LDP President Col (retd) Oli Ahmed and Jagpa President Shafiul Alam Prodhan joined the march.
After speaking at Narayanganj, Khaleda addressed five more rallies at Narsingdi, Kishoreganj, Brahmanbaria, Habiganj and Moulvibazar.
She also placed floral wreaths at a monument to the late BNP leader M Saifur Rahman at Ashuganj.
Speaking at Bhairab, the BNP chief said her party was involving people with their activities through road marches and would declare the final round of agitation after completing these programmes.
"People have run out of patience as they are not well at all. They have no security and the government has failed in all sectors,11 she said.
Corruption had pervaded the government machinery at all levels, she added. "The Padma bridge project has been stalled by the World Bank amid graft allegations.”
At a grand rally in the capital on September 27, Begum Zia declared three road marches --- to Sylhet, Rajshahi and Chittagong—as a means of mounting pressure on the government for a restoration of the caretaker system.
Later the party postponed the Chittagong road march considering hajj and Eid-ul-Azha. It will march to Rajshahi on October 18.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the party's acting secretary general, said Khaleda Zia would lead road marches to Chittagong, Barisal, Khulna and Rangpur after Eid.