Staff Correspondent

Extending wholehearted support to the interim government for a free and fair election, Gano Forum on Saturday called for national unity to address the challenges and proceed towards a credible election through a strong and competent Election Commission.

"We want free, fair and neutral elections. Today's government is the people's government. We will extend support to the government wholeheartedly for the sake of fair elections in the future," chairman of the coordinating team of Gana Forum Mostafa Mohsin Montu told reporters after their dialogue with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus.

"We had a detailed discussion. He (CA) listened to us attentively. We discussed issues related to the Constitution, law-and-order situation and judiciary," Montu said.

Talking about the price hike of essential commodities, he said the syndicate must be uprooted. "We need to work jointly to maintain national unity."

Gano Forum, literally People’s Forum, emeritus president Dr Kamal Hossain led a nine-member delegation of the party at the dialogue held at state guest house Jamuna.

The party called upon the interim government to hold the next national election soon after reconstituting the Election Commission with right persons and completing the ongoing reform works.

They said the situation will remain the same as before if the election is held without completing reform works.

"We want the election very soon. But we didn't give any specific date," Montu said, adding that, "Before the election, we act as Ram, and we become 'Ravan' after the election."

A search committee or whatever necessary should be carried out for appointing competent people in the Election Commission, he added.

This is the second such dialogue in the current phase, which started on October 5 with the participation of BNP, Jamaat, CPB and some other parties.

The key purpose of the dialogue is to inform the political parties about the progress of the reform work and seek their suggestions.