The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday threatened to siege the Election Commission if it announced the schedule for the upcoming general election before the ongoing political crisis was settled.

‘Election should not be held under you [prime minister Sheikh Hasina]. BNP leaders and activists would siege the Election Commission if it announced the poll schedule before the settlement of the ongoing political crisis,’ BNP chairperson’s advisory council member and Dhaka south city unit BNP convener Abdus Salam said at a rally in the old town of the city.

Salam presided over the rally organised to realise the BNP’s one-point demand for the resignation of Sheikh Hasina’s government.

Addressing the programme as chief guest, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the government was planning to hold elections like before in 2024 with new tricks.

‘The current government is not elected but is in power by force. By changing the strategy, the government wants to hold a one-sided election again. Sheikh Hasina unilaterally cancelled the caretaker government system,’ he said.

He said that foreigners were also saying that fair elections were not possible under the Awami League.

‘The government is now lying. She [Hasina] should resign immediately. The people of the country do not want to see Sheikh Hasina in power anymore,’ Fakhrul said, adding that the present government will not listen normally.

‘The government must be defeated through agitation. If you don’t listen to us easily, you will be judged on the streets,’ he said.

‘We have been protesting against this government for a year with the aim of restoring democracy. This movement has already seen 22 people killed. More than 700 activists have gone missing. More than 50 lakh activists have been sued. They are oppressing with the aim of keeping the democratic people away from the movement and holding one-sided elections,’ he said.

Fakhrul stated that the government had become upset and disoriented after receiving visa restrictions from the United States.

The impact of the visa policy has started to be felt everywhere in the administration, he said.

Referring to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s health, Fakhrul said that Begum Zia is very ill and that she has been detained on false charges.

‘Begum Zia is at the crossroads of life and death. If she is not released and provided with good treatment, the government will have to take responsibility for everything,’ he said.

He said that the doctors were advising to take Khaleda Zia abroad for treatment immediately.

‘Her physical condition is very bad. So I am demanding to send her abroad for advanced treatment within 48 hours,’ he said.

Addressing the rally, BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas said that if BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia was not sent abroad within 36 hours and something happened to her, the outcome would not be good.

‘I will request the government again; 12 hours of our 48-hour ultimatum have passed, and within 36 hours, our leader should be sent abroad for treatment. If something happens to our leader in this situation, we will not keep any of you in Bangladesh. I’m sorry, I probably got a little emotional,’ he said.

He said that from the day the BNP chairperson was arrested, there was a conspiracy to kill her.

Nazrul Islam Khan, another standing committee member of the BNP, asked the party leaders and activists not to wait for any order from senior leaders if anything happened to the party chairperson, Khaleda Zia.

Several thousand BNP leaders and activists participated in the rally.

Besides, the opposition on Monday postponed its pre-scheduled rally at Aminbazar in Dhaka as law enforcers allegedly destroyed the makeshift stage erected at the venue.

Dhaka district BNP convener Abu Ashfaque told reporters that law enforcers had vandalised the stage, though they had given verbal permission earlier.

BNP planned to hold the rally at 3:00pm on Monday as part of its 15-day programme to press home a one-point demand for holding the upcoming general election under a non-partisan, caretaker government.