Bangladesh’s caretaker government has banned political activities, media freedom and the people’s right to seek redressal from the judiciary through writ petitions in the country.
With this latest action, the government has also postponed the ninth general election till indefinite time. Earlier, it was scheduled for last Monday but was called off.
Now with this announcement, the provocative political activities such as meeting, gathering, procession, rally, exhibition, blockade, strike, lockout and other functions of political parties, trade unions, clubs or associations have been banned with immediate effect in the country.
The democratic rights granted to the citizens have also been suspended until further notice. It would be withdrawn with the suspension of the state of emergency, which was proclaimed on January 11 across the country.
However, the two political alliances have given different reactions to the new situation. The Awami League and its ally Jatiya Party welcomed the new rules.
On the other hand, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami said they would go for details of the rules and then would give any reaction.
Earlier, the Emergency Powers Rules 2007 was framed in accordance with the Emergency Powers Ordinance 2007 that was promulgated by the president on January 12 this year.
With this new rule, the government has been empowered to arrest or detain any person or restrict entry, departure, stay or movement of any person to prevent from carrying out activities that cannot be said well in public interest.
The European Union, the US, UK, India and Pakistan are among the other nations who are monitoring the ground situation in Bangladesh closely.
The law advisor Mainul Hosein has said to the Press that the government was committed to hold credible as well as free and fair election in the country. He urged the political parties to be patient and cooperate with this new situation.
He said further that
our main priority is to hold the elections. But we are doing this not only for the political parties but also for the people. So we cannot hold elections without doing these things.
