Power aspirants involved in extortion: Adviser Shwakhat

The people, aspiring to come to power, are also engaged in extortion ahead of the upcoming general election likely to be held in late 2025 or early 2026, said Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hossain, an adviser to the Ministry of Shipping, Labour and Employment, on Saturday.

“It has frequently been noticed that a political party expels one or two of its leaders in connection with such a complaint,” he said.

He made the remarks on Saturday during the national dialogue titled “Unity, Reform and Elections,” organised by the Forum for Bangladesh Studies, at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh auditorium in the capital’s Khamarbari area.

“The extortionists are legitimising such extortion by telling that they were out of power over the last 15 years, and they now need money to take part in the election,” Sakhawat said.

At least 2,000 people were killed during the student-led July-August mass upsurge, he said, adding that holding the next general election without any reform would be unjust to the spirit of the mass upsurge.

He said over 2,000 people who sustained injuries during the movement are undergoing treatment and the conditions of 37 of them are stated to be critical.

Citing the extreme cruelty of the defeated Awami League government on the agitating students, he said, “I don't know whether such a coup has ever occurred in the history of the world.”

Sakhawat, who was the Election Commissioner from 2007 to 2012, said the then caretaker government took some reform initiatives but failed to implement on the political ground.

Later, those initiatives were not implemented by the political government, said the former election commissioner.

“If we don't conduct the reforms now, it will never happen again. Minimum time should be given for this purpose and everyone should be patient as we are in a difficult situation,” he said.