At Long March Launch at Baitul Mukarram, Oli Ahmed Warns Government: Act in Time or Face Trouble

LDP chairman and former minister Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed has urged the government to be careful while there is still time. He said the prime minister must understand that, at the end of the day, responsibility for everything will fall on her.

He made the remarks on Saturday morning (October 31) at the inaugural rally of the 11-party unity's Dhaka-Khulna-Jhenaidah-Kushtia long march at the south gate of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in the capital.

Oli Ahmed said those who are with the prime minister now will flee in a time of danger. No one will then say they were responsible. In his words, 'I request you, walk while there is time, or you will be in trouble.'

He said, 'For months we have been troubling you again and again. We call meetings, we speak, but nothing is being done. These words are not for ourselves. From past experience, we want this country to move on the right path.'

The LDP chairman said a rule must be created for every office and every post. Without a proper system, no country can move forward. In Europe and America, he said, it does not matter who becomes president because the system looks after everything, but Bangladesh does not have that system.

Raising allegations of partisan influence in government institutions, he said that since this government came to power, all district offices, district council offices, various corporations, city corporations and municipalities have turned into BNP offices.

He alleged that government tenders are being controlled from there, vacant beats are being occupied wherever they are found, and people are interfering wherever someone has a problem.

Addressing the prime minister, Oli Ahmed said, 'I have warned you again and again, but you are not listening. You are making one mistake after another.'

He said the opposition's job is to keep the ruling party on the right path, and that is what they are doing. But he also remarked that a stage will come when the government will not listen.

Referring to 1996, he said the situation that arose when the BNP did not listen on the caretaker government issue could happen again. In his words, laws would then have to be passed without sleeping at night, and he urged the government not to wait for that time.

Advising the government, the LDP chairman said it must take advice from good people. There is no benefit in sitting with inexperienced people; work must be done with those who know, and the right path must be followed. He said they want the country and its people to live in peace.

Present at the rally were opposition leader and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman MP, Bangladesh Khelafat Majlis Ameer Mamunul Haque, Jamaat Secretary General and former MP Mia Golam Parwar, Bangladesh Nezame Islam Party Ameer Maulana Abdul Kaiyum Sobhani, Amar Bangladesh Party president Mujibur Rahman Monju, Jatiya Ganatantrik Party vice-president Engineer Rashed Prodhan, Bangladesh Labour Party chairman Dr Mostafizur Rahman Iran, Bangladesh Development Party chairman Advocate Anwarul Islam Chan, Bangladesh Khelafat Andolon secretary general Mufti Fakhrul Islam, and Chhatra Shibir central president Nurul Islam Saddam, among other top leaders of the 11-party unity.