Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Ali Riaz has said the upcoming referendum will determine what kind of country Bangladesh will become in the future.
He made the remark while speaking as the chief guest at a divisional imam conference organised by the Barishal Divisional Administration and the Islamic Foundation. The programme was held at Bell’s Park in Barishal on Sunday, as part of the nationwide referendum campaign.
The conference, chaired by Barishal Divisional Commissioner Md Mahfuzur Rahman, featured Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser (Consensus) Monir Haider and Secretary to the Ministry of Religious Affairs Md Kamal Uddin as special guests.
The conference was held on the first day of a series of stakeholder consultation programmes at the divisional and district levels to promote the referendum and motivate voters. Over 1,200 imams working in various districts of Barishal division attended.
Addressing the conference, Ali Riaz, the chief coordinator of the government’s referendum campaign, said, “The true owners of this Bangladesh, achieved through many struggles, are its people.”
He noted that the referendum would chart the future course of Bangladesh, stating, “We must all seize the opportunity presented by this referendum to determine how elected representatives will run the country in the coming days.”
Ali Riaz said, “We wanted a state where the government would be accountable to the people. But over the past 54 years, we have not been able to come close to achieving that goal.”
Highlighting the 16 years of previous rule, oppression, and persecution, he said, “We cannot move forward without changing this system.”
Ali Riaz added, “There will be political differences; we will certainly vote for our preferred candidates. But we must be united on what the future country should look like.”
Stating there is no room for doubt about the referendum, he said, “Just as we choose candidates by voting in general elections, we will move forward on the path of building the country based on the July Charter by participating in the referendum.”
He called for ensuring the participation of all, regardless of party affiliation, in the referendum aimed at establishing a country based on equality, human dignity, and justice, and for working to raise awareness on the matter.
In his speech as a special guest, Monir Haider said, “Through the July mass uprising, we began the reform process to reclaim ownership of the country by ousting a murderous mafia.”
Referring to the upcoming referendum as the next major step in building the country, he said, “If this referendum fails, that murderous mafia will return.”
He said, “The fugitive fascists are trying to mislead people about the referendum through disinformation funded by looted money.”
Haider called upon the religious scholars to play a role in dispelling voters’ doubts by presenting the true facts.
Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Md Kamal Uddin said that over the past 16 years, religious scholars have suffered much oppression and persecution in their efforts to establish the truth.
Noting that for the first time in Bangladesh’s history, there is an opportunity to decide what kind of country it will be, he expressed hope that the country’s religious scholars would play the most significant role in the upcoming referendum.
Additional speeches at the conference were given by Barishal Range DIG Md Manjur Morshed Alam, Barishal Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md Shafiqul Islam, President of the Barishal Divisional Imam Association Abdul Nizami, and Director of the Islamic Foundation Barishal Md Nurul Islam.
