Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Ali Riaz has stated that casting a ‘Yes’ vote in the upcoming national referendum will open the door to building a ‘New Bangladesh’.
Speaking as the chief guest at an exchange meeting organised to motivate voters at the Khulna Divisional Auditorium on Thursday, he remarked that a ‘Yes’ vote would gift the nation a democratic and humane country, which was the ultimate aspiration of the July mass uprising.
Addressing the question of who the ‘Yes’ candidate is, Professor Riaz asserted, “I say the ‘Yes’ candidate is you, I, and all of us”. He urged citizens to not only cast their own votes but also to encourage and bring their acquaintances to the polling centres to change the country.
He said the nation, after years of oppression under fascism, no longer wanted autocracy or misrule, but sought an enlightened future based on equality and dignity, free from the fear of enforced disappearances or arrest in so-called ghost cases.
He noted that this was the dream of the great freedom fighters and the goal for which students and the public sacrificed their lives during the July uprising.
Describing the July uprising as a major achievement in the nation’s history and said it had opened a new chance to build democracy, justice and human rights. He said some reforms had already started, but deeper and wider changes were still needed. He said the ‘July Charter’ was prepared through consensus among all political parties. The referendum has been arranged to take direct approval from the people to implement the charter.
Explaining the meaning of a ‘Yes’ vote, he said the government and opposition would jointly form the caretaker government and the Election Commission, while major constitutional changes would require public consent. He added that the opposition would hold key parliamentary posts, no one could serve as prime minister for more than 10 years, and the judiciary would function independently.
Also addressing the meeting, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant Monir Hyder said a victory for the ‘Yes’ vote would block the return of fascism and help realise the long-held dream of building an independent country based on equality, human dignity and social justice.
The meeting was presided over by Khulna Divisional Commissioner Md Mokhtar Ahmed, with speeches by Khulna University of Engineering and Technology Vice-Chancellor Professor Maksud Helali and Khulna Range Deputy Inspector General Md Rezaul Haque.
