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Eminent citizens urge EC to suspend polls schedule

Staff Correspondent
Eminent citizens yesterday urged the Election Commission to suspend the schedule for holding the parliamentary polls slated for January 5 saying that otherwise it would be "one-sided" and "unacceptable".
The next election without the main opposition can not be acceptable and the EC should suspend the schedule for the sake of holding a free, fair and credible election, they added.
Their opinions came at a dialogue on the existing political crisis held in the capital's Cirdap auditorium. The programme was organised by some eminent citizens including renowned lawyers, academicians and former caretaker government advisers.
Setting a slogan "Nation demands peace" they put emphasis on overcoming the ongoing crisis centring the next election and ending violence in the name of political agitations.
Noted jurist Dr Shahdeen Malik said the duty of the EC was to arrange a fair election and create a favourable environment for all political parties.
"If the Election Commission apprehends that they are unable to hold a free, fair and credible election, they obviously have the right to declare this before the nation," he observed.
The EC could declare this within its legal framework and there would be no controversy, Malik said, adding that there must be equal facilities for all parties for electioneering.
Former adviser to a caretaker government and also noted jurist AF Hasan Ariff said the EC must ensure that all state machineries function properly for holding a fair and credible election.
"As all constitutional institutions have been politicised and destroyed systematically, we are to witness a crisis centring election at the end of every five years," Ariff observed. Hossain Zillur Rahman, another former adviser to a caretaker government, said the government must establish credibility of a congenial environment fora level-playing field through reconstituting the electiontime government and the EC, besides taking other relevant steps.
He added that conscious citizens must create space for raising the voice of the silent majority voters who have the absolute authority to ensure a fair and acceptable election.
Eminent educationalist Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed said democracy was absolutely absent in the country as the state bodies had collapsed under the leadership of a sole person - the prime minister, the head of the government, who controls everything.
"Absolute power is conferred on the prime minister, who has now emerged as a democratic dictator, in the present constitution and all others are bound to follow his/her orders. So, the crisis, we are now witnessing is only for this dictator in the shadow of a democrat ruler," he said.
There is no alternative to curbing the power of the status of the prime minister by amending the constitution, the noted academician observed.
Some business leaders also took part in the dialogue and expressed their concerns over the huge loss to the economy due to the political stalemate.