bdnews24.com, Dhaka

Main opposition BNP has made no change of heart to return to parliament, its secretary general hinted as he again said on Friday that a conducive environment has yet to be created.

“The incumbent government’s performance in and outside the Sangsad through the last nine months hasn’t seemed acceptable to the people. They have to create befitting environment within parliament if they want to see us returning there,” Khandaker Delwar Hossain said at his Armanitola residence.

Parliament will be in session again on Sunday after the long Eid and Durga Puja breaks. BNP has been staying away from the House since the maiden session over seating arrangement.

The cases filed against the opposition leaders and workers by the caretaker government have not been withdrawn yet, he said. New cases, instead, are being filed to harass and persecute the opposition. “This environment cannot be called ‘friendly’,” reiterated Delwar while setting out for his Manikganj constituency.

He stressed that BNP was eagerness to rejoin parliament. “Our chairperson has always been offering to work with the government. But the government doesn’t seem to heed that.”

“On the contrary, the government has adopted the strategy of suppressing the voice of the opposition by filing cases against its helmsmen. They are doing whatever they might to prevent our return to parliament,” he alleged.

Referring to the ex-BNP state minister Aman Ullah Aman’s arrest at the Zia International Airport on Wednesday, he said, “You can’t call that creating appropriate environment.”

He questioned the legal aspects of the government’s initiative of reviving the 1972 constitution. “This certainly sounds ominous and looks like an evil design.”

“People are not going to accept that because it was Awami League who had shelved the 1972 constitution to establish its single party BAKSAL rule.

The Awami League did not oblige popular demands in 1972 for constituting an all-party government, he alleged.

“Now in 2009, they are talking again of reviving the 1972 constitution, which has sinister motive hidden behind it.

“But people will not allow that to happen again. The AL government must appreciate that the year 2009 cannot be rewound back to 1972,” Delwar said.

Replying to another query, he said, “BNP’s national council will be held in December. Committees are being constituted at all levels. The council will be possible once all the committees are formed.”

“The committees will be put in place in time. No-one will benefit from creating confusions over the issue,” Delwar said emphatically.