'Delay tactics won't work': Pressure mounts on Yunus as BNP stages massive rally for polls by December

Bangladesh's political standoff deepened on Wednesday as the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia intensified pressure on the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government. Tens of thousands of BNP-aligned youth poured into Dhaka, calling for national elections to be held by December.

Addressing the rally virtually from London, BNP's acting chairman Tarique Rahman accused the government of deliberately stalling the electoral process. "The national election must be held by December. Preparations must begin immediately," he said.

Rahman alleged that the administration's "delay tactics" and push for "so-called reforms" were aimed at derailing democracy. “In the past, all caretaker governments held fair elections within three months. Today, it's been over 10 months and yet, the government has not even announced the date of the election.”

The Yunus-led interim government assumed power after the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government was toppled by a student-led movement in August last year. Since then, the political landscape has been in flux, with the emergence of the National Citizen Party (NCP), born out of the Students Against Discrimination (SAD) protests. Backed by Yunus, the NCP insists that polls should be postponed until reforms are in place.

On Wednesday, Yunus, who is currently on a visit to Japan, reiterated that elections would be held between December and June next year, depending on the pace of reforms. His advisory council, functioning as the interim cabinet, has outlined three core mandates: elections, reforms, and justice. The justice aspect refers to trials involving former premier Hasina and leaders of the now-defunct Awami League.

Senior BNP leaders dismissed any justification for delaying the polls. “If the justice process remains incomplete, BNP will take the responsibility to complete it,” said Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, stressing that reforms could continue under an elected government. Another senior BNP figure, Mirza Abbas, criticized the interim regime, stating, “The (interim) government gave us nothing but disregard in the past nine months… Most (advisers/officials) of this government are not even citizens of this country.”

The political pressure is also mounting from the military. Army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, joined by the navy and air force heads, met Yunus last week, urging elections by December. Zaman later told senior officers at Dhaka Cantonment that the military was unaware of several strategic decisions despite its active role. The military's dissatisfaction was followed by protests within the civil administration over a proposed law that would make it easier to terminate government employees.