BNP slams govt for obstructing Khaledas bail
Police foil countrywide
demos at places
STAFF REPORTER
The BNP yesterday staged peaceful demonstrations across the country to protest against Sundays police attack on its activists for displaying black flags in front of the partys central office and demanding immediate release of chairperson Khaleda Zia on bail. The processions brought out by the BNP were stopped by the police in different districts. Many party leaders and activists were arrested. BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi yesterday alleged that law enforcers had obstructed the party leaders and activists in different districts including
Dhaka, Brahmanbaria, Jhalokathi and Kustia. At a press briefing at the partys central office, Rizvi claimed that at least five leaders and activists, including Sher-e-Bangla Nagar thana BNP leader Shahadat Hossain Durjoy, Mofizul Islam and Arman Hossain, were arrested from the city only. He also alleged that 1214 activists were injured in the police attack on the processions at Jhalokathi.
Another party procession at Brahmanbaria had also come under police attack, he said.
The BNP leader said the police were suppressing the peoples democratic rights instead of maintaining law and order.
Referring to the new appointments and transfer of 22 deputy commissioners (DCs) and 29 SPs, the BNP leader said the government enacted a smokescreen as part of an early election.
He also said there would not be any election without the BNP and its chairperson Khaleda Zia, even though the government was preparing for the next national polls.
Speaking at a meeting at Jatiya Press Club, Prof. Emajuddin Ahmed, a pro-BNP intellectual, urged the government to create a congenial atmosphere for the next general election.
A pro-BNP organisation, Swadhinata Adhikar Andolon, organised the meeting, with its president Md Moniruzzaman in the chair.
Emajuddin Ahmed said that the government should dissolve Parliament before the announcement of the election schedule.
The former vice-chancellor of Dhaka University said that more than one million BNP men have been implicated in about 50,000 cases and they must be allowed to take preparations for the next general polls. The Prime Minister has to create a congenial atmosphere to hold a free and fair election. No process for the general election should start without it, he added.
The former DU teacher criticised the statement of AL general secretary Obaidul Quader, who had suggested that the BNP should do politics at home or stay inside the party office.
Emajuddin Ahmed expressed regret that he had failed to teach Obaidul Quader, a former student of his, that nobody can do politics sitting at home or by staying inside the office.
Speaking at another meeting at the Jatiya Press Club, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan slammed the government for not allowing the bail for Khaleda Zia. The government has sunken its feet into quicksand by sending Khaleda Zia to prison. Its drowning deeper by obstructing her plea to obtain bail, he said.
The meeting was organised by the Nurses Association of Bangladesh (NAB).
Khan said Khaleda Zia had been sentenced in a false case and the government did it out of sheer political vengeance. People know the ruling partys real intentions and they have condemned the government for it, he added.
He also said that convicts in murder cases are given bail, but the BNP chief is repeatedly being denied bail. He alleged that corrupt people want the present government to stay in power. If Khaleda is given five years imprisonment for embezzling Tk. 2 crore, how long will the people involved in corruption worth thousand crores of takas stay in jail? he added.
The BNP leader also said there was no possibility of any split in the party in the absence of Khaleda Zia. The party will work under the leadership of Tarique Rahman, he added.
