National Citizen Party convener and opposition chief whip Nahid Islam said the 11-party alliance will continue its programmes if the government does not implement the referendum verdict. Speaking on Wednesday after an alliance meeting at the opposition leader’s official residence on 29 Minto Road in the capital, he said a long march would begin on September 5 and later be carried out in other divisions.

Nahid said the alliance would also hold a grand rally in Dhaka demanding implementation of the referendum verdict. He criticised the government’s handling of what he described as ongoing gas and electricity shortages, saying power outages were occurring even while ministers and members of parliament were speaking. He said government representatives were trying to suggest that no crisis existed.

At the briefing, Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Hamidur Rahman Azad said many people had previously been subjected to enforced disappearance and killings outside the judicial process, without justice being delivered. He said the alliance would organise a march toward the National Parliament at 3pm on Sunday, August 30, with family members of people who had disappeared.