Like the people of the country, the army also wants a free, fair and impartial election to be held as per the government’s outline. If the election is held, the country’s stability will improve and the law and order situation will gradually normalize.

General Officer Commanding, Headquarters Army Training and Doctrine Command (GOC ArtDoc) Lieutenant General Md. Mainur Rahman made these remarks at a press conference on the activities of the army at Officers’ Mess ‘A’ of Dhaka Cantonment on Wednesday (November 5).

He said, “Like the people of the country, the army also wants a free, fair and impartial election to be held as per the government’s outline. A time frame has also been given in that outline. We hope that after the election, the stability of the country will improve, the law and order situation will gradually normalize and the army will then be able to return to the cantonment. We are looking forward to that.”

Lieutenant General Mainur Rahman also said, “The army is making proper preparations based on the outline of the election that the government has formulated so far. Our training programs that are currently being conducted on a limited scale are focusing on what we have to do during the election.”

He also said that one thing related to training is that the army’s responsibility in peacetime is to prepare for war. We say ‘we train as we fight’.

Noting that the army has been out for the past 15 months, the official said, “If we have to stay out until the election or even a little bit after that, we will have to stay out for a few more days. This is disrupting our training.”

Mainur Rahman said, “Along with this, the situation through which the army has faced challenges for the last 15 months; it was not an easy situation. Bangladesh does not face such a situation every day. That is why we also want a fair election to be held and we can return to the cantonment.”

The army has been deployed with the support of the civilian administration for the past 15 months and is performing its duties under very challenging and adverse conditions. The officer also mentioned that the army has performed its duties with great professionalism during these 15 months.