Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Mia Golam Parwar has categorically said that his party does not want any election before ensuring meaningful reforms and prosecuting those responsible for the July-August massacre.

The Jamaat leader made the remarks on Friday, though its former political ally, BNP is pushing hard for the holding of the national election immediately.

“We are prepared to participate in the next general election to be held after the completion of the reforms and the trial of Sheikh Hasina and others involved in the July-August carnage,” he said while addressing a workers’ meeting in Comilla this noon.

Claiming that there is no alternative but to form a national unity to build a new and self-dependent Bangladesh, he said his party has already called for a national unity to take the country forward with the spirit of those who sacrificed their blood during the July-August mass upsurge.

He also urged the young generation to take lessons from the awful consequences of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a vindictive and oppressive ruler.

Hasina has prohibited Jamaat, but it is the countrymen who have rejected Hasina, he said, adding that the people of the country must honour the blood of 2,000 students and civilians, and the 30,000 others who sustained brutal injuries during the movement to topple the government.

“We are accountable to the fighters. We must build a prosperous country upholding people’s due rights,” he said.

He also blamed the defeated Awami League for exiling the country’s democracy and snatching people’s voting rights for the last 16 years.