Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Dr Col (retd) Oli Ahmad on Saturday said Bangladesh Awami should be banned, insisting that they have no right to do politics after its role against 18 crore people of the country in July-August protests.
 
"Why Awami League should not be banned! We said today again, Awami League should be banned because they waged war against 18 crore people. They have no right to do politics," he told reporters after holding dialogue with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus on Saturday.
 
Oli, who also served as Communications Minister during the BNP-Jamaat tenure, said the Awami League used all, including the police and administration, to remain in power.
 
He said they could not survive as the army and some police refused to open fire during the protest which, he said, claimed over 1500 lives and injured many people.
 
Oli said they placed 23 proposals today, including a demand for a free and fair election; and also addressed the issues of price hike of essentials.
 
This is the second such dialogue in the current phase, which started on October 5 with the participation of BNP, Jamaat, CPB and some other parties.
 
Fifteen political parties, including Gono Forum, Liberal Democrats Party (LDP), and Bangladesh Jatiya Party (Andaleeve), are among the parties who are invited to join today's dialogue.
 
The key purpose of the dialogue is to inform the political parties about the progress of the reform work and seek their suggestions.
 
Meanwhile, a nine-member delegation of Gono Forum joined dialogue with the Chief Adviser Prof Yunus at the state guest house Jamuna.
 
The team led by Gono Forum emeritus President Dr Kamal Hossain entered Jamuna around 3:00pm.
 
Almost all political parties had the opportunity to become the part of the ongoing dialogue with the Chief Adviser except Bangladesh Awami League and its key ally Jatiya Party (Ershad).
 
Meanwhile, Law Adviser Dr Asif Nazrul on Saturday said the election timing will be fixed under the leadership of Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus as it is a very important policy decision.
 
"He (CA) alone has the authority to declare it (election timing)," he said in a statement, further explaining his remarks made in a TV programme on Thursday night.
 
Earlier, Asif Nazrul said the next national election may be arranged by the next year - 2025 - after completing the pre-election preparations, including the formation of a new Election Commission through a search committee.
 
"I think realistically, holding the election may be possible by next year. There are many factors. This is a preliminary assumption to me," he said when Daily Manabzamin Chief Editor Matiur Rahman Chowdhury wanted to know about the election timing during a programme titled "Ajker Patrika" hosted by Channel I .
 
Dr Asif said a search committee will be formed soon to help form the new Election Commission.
 
The new EC will then prepare a flawless voters' list and then an election will be held, he said.
 
In his statement, Dr Asif said he did not get a chance to fully explain these factors there.
 
But everyone will understand from the words of the government that there are issues of reform and political consensus for the elections, said the Adviser.
 
"These are the factors. I also spoke about the reforms," he said.
 
"Some other factors I have explained in the programme, such as: formation of search committee and election commission, preparation of voter list etc," he added.
 
The Adviser said if these factors remain okay, the election may be held next year. "I also said this from my primary assumption."
 
These conditional ideas and assumptions are presented by some media as an election announcement. Honestly, this is not correct," Asif Nazrul said in his statement.