Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of the BNP, has asserted that conducting local elections ahead of the national polls would facilitate the rehabilitation of those complicit in past autocratic regimes.
Speaking virtually from London on Thursday (27 February) at an extended meeting of the party at the LD Hall of the National Parliament building, he made these remarks while presiding over the session.
Rahman stated that democracy-seeking citizens perceive local elections before the national polls as a strategy to reinstate fugitives of tyranny across the country, directly opposing the people’s aspirations for a popular uprising.
He further declared that the BNP would not fall into what he described as a "rehabilitation trap" designed for genocidal perpetrators, money launderers, and corrupt mafias.
Pledging to hold accountable those involved in crimes against humanity, he reiterated the BNP’s commitment to justice.
Should the party secure public mandate in the forthcoming national election, he affirmed that perpetrators of mass atrocities would be brought to trial.
Calling upon the interim government, Rahman urged authorities to abandon plans for "local elections" that, in his view, seek to re-establish networks of those responsible for past violence and corruption.
Instead, he demanded the immediate announcement of a clear and structured roadmap outlining the government’s future course of action.
