Sajib Wazed Joy, son of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has expressed satisfaction with Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman's expectation to see elections within the next 18 months after completing important reforms in the state.
However, Sajib Wazed Joy believes that no effective reforms or elections are possible without the Awami League, the political party that led the liberation war.
Jugantar Online, BDNews and BanglaNews have already published the report quoting Reuters.
On August 5, Army Chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman refused to stand by Sheikh Hasina in the face of massive student protests. Later she resigned and fled to India.
Then, at the request of the students who led the anti-discrimination movement, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus took charge of Bangladesh who are undertaking various reform programs as per the expectations of the student agitators.
However, the interim government has not yet announced a specific time frame for when the Jatiya Sangsad(JS) elections will be held. In this regard, the advisers said, to heal the wounds of the 'fascist' Awami League and take the country on the right path, reforms are necessary first, then elections.
Meanwhile, in an interview given to Reuters on Monday (September 24), army chief General Waqar-uz-Zaman said that he believes Bangladesh should "transition to democracy" within one to one and a half years through reforms. However, he will support the interim government led by Dr. Yunus 'whatever the circumstances'.
On Tuesday, the day after the army chief's interview, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's son Sajib Wazed told Reuters, "I am happy that we finally got a deadline for the election."
But we have seen this drama before where an unconstitutional, unelected government promises reforms and then things get worse, he said.
He cited the history of coups in Bangladesh since independence from Pakistan in 1971, most recently in 2007 when the army backed a caretaker government that ruled the country for two years.
After the fall of the Hasina government, the police went into disarray. At that time, the army played a major role in maintaining law and order. The army chief said he meets the head of the interim government every week. The military supports the country's stabilization efforts.