BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the 13th Jatiya Sangsad elections will be held soon and the people will have the opportunity to elect their representatives through a free, fair and neutral poll.

“We expect an arrangements for elections will be made very soon as per the desire of the people . . . country’s people will have the opportunity to elect their representatives through a free, fair and neutral polls,” Fakhrul told journalists after paying homage to the martyred intellectuals at the Martyred Intellectuals Memorial at Mirpur here this morning.

“BNP is always hopeful.  An interim government has been established and we are cooperating,” he added.

Mirza Fakhrul added: “Today is Martyr Intellectuals Day. On this day in 1971, at the fag-end of the final victory, the Pakistani occupation forces picked up illustrious sons of the soil including noted journalists, intellectuals, professors, scientists and civil society’s representatives and brutally killed them.”

Praying for the eternal peace of the departed souls of the country’s brilliant personalities, the BNP secretary general said, “We, on behalf of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), party chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and acting chairman Tarique Rahman, paid rich tributes today.”

Mirza Fakhrul vowed to build an independent, democratic and prosperous Bangladesh for which the people of Bangladesh fought in 1971 after subsequent announcement of the Liberation War by Shaheed President Ziaur Rahman.

Noting that a new opportunity to build the country has been created through the fall of the Awami League government, the BNP secretary general categorically said, “We want to establish Bangladesh as a truly democratic, modern and non-discriminatory state by properly using this chance in a perfect manner.”

BNP Standing Committee members Nazrul Islam Khan, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan and AZM Zahid Hossain, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, Joint Secretary General Khairul Kabir Khokon, Habib-un-Nabi Khan Sohel, Convener of Dhaka North City Unit Aminul Islam and South City Unit Convener Rafiqul Alam Maznu were present there.

-BSS.