Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer and Leader of the Opposition Shafiqur Rahman yesterday said he had offered the government a team of technical experts from home and abroad to help address the crisis in the energy and power sectors, but the government did not respond.

He made the remarks while speaking to reporters after a meeting of the party’s district-level leaders at the Tangail Shilpakala Academy.

“Jamaat has a skilled technical team at home and abroad in the energy and power sectors. We want to link this team with the government in the national interest, but we did not get a response from the government,” Shafiqur said.

Shafiqur said Jamaat would cooperate with the government as the principal opposition party, but not blindly.

“We are not opposing for the sake of opposition, nor will we support anyone blindly. Our cooperation will be with our eyes open, and our opposition will be based on fairness,” he said.

Recalling an earlier energy crisis, he said the prime minister had formed a committee with equal representation from the government and the opposition following discussions on his notice.

“Within three days, the whole country had calmed down. We were happy and thanked Allah. The people were saved from the panic,” he said.

Shafiqur said the country was now facing a serious crisis and both the government and opposition had responsibilities to address it.

Speaking at a vies-exchange event with media professionals organised by the Bogura city and district units of Jamaat at Bogura Circuit House yesterday, Shafiqur urged them to perform their duties out of patriotism.

Shafiqur said three institutions -- the legislative, judiciary and executive -- are recognised by the Constitution, while the media, though not constitutionally recognised as a fourth pillar, is the most powerful.

“If it remains strong, transparent and honest, the other three are compelled to remain alert and function accordingly. And if there is any compromise or deviation in this area, the entire nation will deviate,” he said.

On the ongoing programmes of the 11-party alliance, Shafiqur said the government should have found alternatives to supply-chain disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East.

Responding to criticism of the long march amid the fuel crisis, he said, “Now the government is also saying there is an oil crisis, initially it did not acknowledge it. Even if we had not taken these vehicles, would their owners have kept them parked? These vehicles would have run for their own needs.”

“We could have set out with several thousand vehicles. We did not do that. We set out with a symbolic convoy,” he added.

Shafiqur said the opposition’s primary responsibility was to safeguard people’s rights. He also urged the government to focus on Bogura’s development.