Dr Kamal Hossain today called upon all to take to the streets to bring down the government instead of just holding indoor meetings.

“No more indoor meetings. We will unite and take to the streets to keep the movement going,” said Dr Kamal Hossain, Jatiya Oikyafront convener, while speaking at a meeting demanding BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release on the occasion of the second anniversary of her imprisonment.

The meeting was organised by Oikyafront at Dhaka Reporters Unity.

Khaleda was sent to jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8, 2018.

He said they are tolerating a farce in the name of election. “Unelected people usurped power and are ruling the country. People will not accept that,” said Dr Kamal, also president of Gonoforum.

“A government should be formed through a free and fair election. A party that secures majority [votes] in a real election should form the government. Raising demands of resignation are not enough. Rather the government should be brought down. People who are owners of the country should act as true owners,” Dr Kamal said.

The Jatiya Oikyafront top leader said that if people are deprived of freedom they become victims of corruption and looting. “None can give autocracy an institutional shape. People who had tried faced dire consequences,” he added.

He said that celebrating 50 years of independence, while depriving people of their rights, is nothing but a farce.

Speaking about Khaleda Zia, Dr Kamal Hossain said, “The term political prisoner sounds strange 48 years after independence. It is unimaginable that demand of release of Khaleda Zia need to be placed and meetings are held for that.”

BNP standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan urged all to unite and wage a movement to oust the government.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President ASM Abdur Rab at the programme cautioned the government that if they want to leave power peacefully, they have to release Khaleda Zia.

Oikyafront leader and Gonoshasthaya Kendra trustee Zafrullah Chowdhury opined that it would not be wise to take part in the any elections without the release of Khaleda Zia.

Among others, Nagorik Oikya convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Gonoforum executive president Subrata Chowdhury and Bikalpadhara president Nurul Amin also spoke at the programme.

A total of 47 opposition candidates have boycotted the election so far citing vote rigging and ballot stuffing. 

Among them, 22 Jamaat candidates, who were contesting the polls under the ‘sheaf of paddy’ symbol, said they boycotted the election due to “unfair voting atmosphere”.

Jatiya Oikyafront Convener Dr Kamal Hossain yesterday said the alliance is fully united.

He, however, did not say whether his party's (Gonoforum's) two MPs-elect will join parliament.

"Our Jatiya Oikyafront is cent percent united. Our unity is forged with the country's 16 crore people," he said.

He came up with the remarks while addressing a preparatory meeting of the Gonoforum for its 5th national council at the party's Arambagh central office.

"I visited many places and found our alliance's unity intact and it'll be consolidated in the days to come."

The Oikyafront chief said people now believe they are the owners of the country and its resources.

He called upon all to organise and remain alert so that no one can embezzle or waste the country's resources. "We must remain aware of evil and anti-people forces who want to misappropriate our assets."

Dr Kamal said a national unity can protect people's interests and their ownership of the state.

Asked about the maiden session of the 11th parliament, the Oikyafront convener said they will come up with their statement on the issue later.

Asked whether Gonoforum's two MPs-elect will take oath, he said, "It's not the right issue to discuss here. We'll talk about the issue later at a press conference. Now we're talking about giving the national unity an institutional shape."

Dr Kamal called upon people to get organised across the country so that Oikyafront can play an effective role in protecting the national interests.

Gonoforum's fifth council will be held on March 23 and 24 in the capital.

The High Court (HC) today rejected a writ petition that challenged the legality of oath taking by lawmakers elected in the December 30 general election.

The court came up with the order saying that there is nothing illegal in taking oath taken by the lawmakers as they took charges of their offices on January 30.

The HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Razik-Al-Jalil passed the order.

Earlier on February 6, the court concluded hearing on the petition and fixed today (February 18) for passing an order.

On that day, AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon argued that oath taking by the lawmakers on January 3 was unconstitutional as the tenure of the 10th parliament expired on January 28.

“Therefore, there were two parliaments from January 3 to January 28 -- which is unconstitutional,” he told the court on February 6.

Attorney General MahbubeyAlamhad argued that as new lawmakers took charge on January 30, oath taking was not illegal.

Almost 82 percent of the lawmakers for the 11th parliament have assets worth more than Tk 1 crore, civil society platform Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik (Shujan) said in a report yesterday.

Of those MPs, 32 percent have assets worth more than Tk 5 crore, according to the report unveiled at the Dhaka Reporters Unity in the capital.

According to finance ministry sources, only 0.06 percent of the total population of Bangladesh was valued at more than Tk 1 crore in 2016.     

“The wealthier candidates were elected,” Dilip Kumar Sarkar, Shujan's central coordinator, said while presenting the report.

In terms of income, 27 percent of the MPs have an income of over Tk 1 crore, 18 percent between Tk 50 lakh and 1 crore, 29 percent between Tk 25 lakh and 50 lakh and 17 percent between Tk 5 lakh and Tk 25 lakh.

Only five percent of the lawmakers had an income between Tk 2 and Tk 5 lakh while 1.34 percent of them had an income of less than Tk 2 lakh.

The report also mentioned that 1.34 percent of the MPs had not submitted their wealth statements in their affidavits.

It further showed that 61 percent of the next parliament is made up of businessmen and their number in the Jatiya Sangsad was increasing.

Additionally, 13 percent are lawyers, five percent servicemen, four percent farmers and the rest belonged to different professions.

It is a dangerous sign that the county's politics is going into the hands of businessmen and wealthy people, Shujan Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said at the programme.

Political analysts have said the major political parties' dependency on businessmen had effectively turned the politics into a business.

Lawyers, businessmen and farmers were the three most common occupations of the lawmakers elected to the country's first parliament in 1973.

Of the MPs in that parliament, 31 percent were lawyers and only 18 percent were businessmen.

However, in the fifth parliament, constituted through the election of 1991, businessmen outnumbered lawyers, with 38 percent being businessmen and 15 percent lawyers.

After the 2008 polls, 57 percent of the lawmakers elected were businessmen, which rose to 59 percent by 2014.

On a more positive note, Badiul Alam said it was a good sign that educated and taxpaying citizens were being elected as MPs.

The Shujan report shows that 43 percent of the new MPs hold post graduate degrees, 38 percent hold graduate degrees, 12 percent have passed the HSC exams and three percent were SSC graduates.

Only four percent did not pass the SSC exam.

It also said that seven percent of the lawmakers were now facing at least one case, while 45 percent had cases filed against them in the past.