DHAKA, May 23: The Chief of Army Staff of Bangladesh, Lt-Gen Moeen U. Ahmed, reiterated on Wednesday that he “will neither enter politics” nor the army had any plan to impose martial law.
He said the “army is assisting the non-party administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed as a subordinate government body” and would go back to the barracks as soon as the election was over.
The army chief was talking to a group of editors of national dailies at his office. The editors met the army chief to convey him their concern over frequent intimidation of journalists, both in Dhaka and outside Dhaka, by various intelligence agencies.
“You can be rest assured that I have no political ambition, I am not going to follow my predecessors. I will not enter politics,” Gen Moeen said. “Neither do have we any plan to promulgate martial law. I believe that the nation’s future lie with democratic governance by the elected representatives of the people. There is no short-cut in this regard.”
As regards intimidation of journalists, the army chief admitted that he was aware of certain intimidating incidents and asserted “they were rather aberration”. “The media is the only bridge between the people and the government. The government can learn from its mistakes, if there is any, from media criticism.”
