B’desh: Badruddoza-Kamal Hossain committee on Rohingya crisis a precursor to a political coalition?

by Fazlur Rahman Raju in Dhaka Tribune, Sept 25, 2017
Bikalpadhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain have jointly urged people to be united and to make sure the democratic rights of the Rohingya were being preserved in the spirit of independence.
The leaders made the call at a programme titled “National committee on how to resolve the national crisis” at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh on Thursday.
Politicians who attended the meeting said they hoped that the similar minded political parties would form an alternative political platform before the next general election.
Sources said Bikalpadhara Bangladesh President AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain aim to form a new political coalition along with other prominent politicians. This committee on the Rohingya crisis might be the litmus test for public opinion they were hoping for, according to leftist politicians.
This committee might help them gauge public acceptance of political collations beyond the Awami League-led 14-party alliance and the BNP-led 20 party alliance.
At the programme, it was decided that the committee would send representatives to China, India and Russia for talks on the Rohingya crisis. They will also hold large public meetings in five cities in Bangladesh, including in Cox’s Bazar, where they hope to draw a crowd of 1,000,000 people.
A close aide of Badruddoza told the Dhaka Tribune that Badruddoza and Kamal created the national unity committee as a precursor to a political coalition with parties who believe in the spirit of the Liberation War.
However, Subrata Chowdhury, executive president of Gono Forum, said: “We have been trying to form a new political coalition for a while. We do not want to tie in the Rohingya crisis with that. We called for national unity on the crisis to help the government.
“Everyone knows that we are trying to form a new coalition with Badruddoza Chowdhury, Krishak Sramik Janata League President Abdul Kader Siddique, Forward Party Chairman Mostafa Amin, Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) General Secretary Khalequzzaman, JSD President ASM Abdur Rab and Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna, which we will definitely do.”
Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) General Secretary Khalequzzaman said: “We attended the meeting called by B Chowdhury and Kamal Hossain and only discussed the Rohingya crisis. Discussions for a coalition is a continuous process.
“We decided to hold programmes in five cities to understand people’s opinions on the Rohingya crisis and also will send a team of representatives to China, India and Russia to convince them to mount diplomatic pressure on Myanmar to take back their nationals.”
Seeking anonymity, a leader from JSD told the Dhaka Tribune that the Rohingya crisis may give them the ability to reach people more easily.
The politicians were scheduled to sit for a meeting on Sunday to finalise the dates for their five city meetings and the team of representatives, sources said.http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/politics/2017/09/25/badruddoza-kamal-hossain-committee-rohingya-crisis-precursor-political-coalition/