Yunus’s demand for midterm polls unconstitutional, illegal: Obaidul

Awami League General Secretary and Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, Obaidul Quader, has dismissed Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus’s call for midterm elections as unconstitutional and illegal.

He also claimed that Yunus’s statements on foreign intervention in Bangladesh amount to treason.

Speaking at a press conference in Dhanmondi on Thursday (August 1), Quader criticised the Nobel laureate, asserting that Yunus’s demand for midterm elections is a ploy to escape ongoing legal proceedings against him.

Quader also urged law enforcement agencies not to harass innocent people, clarifying that there were no orders to shoot on sight.

"I never said that a curfew had to be imposed to protect public buildings. I mentioned that the army was deployed to protect people's lives and property," he stated.

He also alleged that militant groups had infiltrated the quota reform movement and were responsible for the violence, saying, "The investigation into the killings is ongoing, and it will reveal how the bullets struck the victims."

Quader further accused the BNP-Jamaat alliance of orchestrating chaos to seize power, with their leader allegedly inciting violence from London.