Before judging government, assess opposition’s six-month performance: Ishraque

State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Ishraque Hossain has urged the public to assess the performance of the opposition over the past six months before judging whether the government has succeeded or failed.

“Before assessing whether the government has succeeded or failed, I think you should review how successful the opposition has been in its role over the past six months,” he told journalists in Kushtia’s Khoksa upazila on Saturday.

Ishraque made the remarks while responding to questions about the long march being organised by the Jamaat-led 11-party alliance.

Criticising the programme, he said it would cause public suffering and lead to the wastage of state resources at a time when the country is facing a fuel crisis.

“They will create public suffering and waste state resources,” he said.

Ishraque said the alliance had initially announced the long march citing the ongoing fuel crisis as the reason for the programme. However, he claimed that the programme itself would consume a large quantity of fuel.

“Initially, they said the long march was being organised because of the ongoing fuel crisis. Yet, according to estimates, they will burn nearly 100,000 litres of fuel to carry out this long march,” he said.

He added that the alliance later said the long march was aimed at implementing the verdict of the referendum.

On constitutional reform, Ishraque said the government was seeking to implement reforms through amendments to the Constitution and claimed that the opposition had been invited to participate in the relevant committee but had not done so.

“I would say that we are seeking to carry out the reforms through amendments to the Constitution. The opposition has been invited to participate in the committee tasked with amending the Constitution, but they have not participated so far,” he said.

“On the other hand, they are causing public suffering in the name of a long march. At a time when there is a fuel crisis, they are unnecessarily burning and wasting fuel,” he added.

The Jamaat-led 11-party alliance is holding the long march today with several demands, including implementation of the referendum verdict, trial of those responsible for the July 2024 massacre, an end to shortages of electricity, fuel, gas and fertiliser, curbing price hikes of essential commodities, ending extortion and corruption, improving law and order, and stopping narrow partisanisation.