BNP demands UN probe on arson attacks
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) yesterday demanded an international investigation under the supervision of the United Nations to identify the perpetrators of petrol bomb attacks and incidents of sabotage during its three-month long agitation programme earlier this year.
The government is accusing the BNP of fire bombings, but the BNP says, the party is not involved in it. Under these circumstances, we demand an international investigation under the supervision of the United Nations to identify the real culprits, said BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon. Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters at Naya Paltan in the capital, he also claimed that the BNP was never involved in any act of sabotage.
The BNP leaders comments come three days after the Prime Minister told Parliament that the government would form a special tribunal to try BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia as the mastermind of the arson attacks during the BNP-led alliances agitation for three months from January.
Khaleda Zia, at a programme recently, alleged that the police and government agencies had carried out the acts of sabotage that left about 150 people killed.
Ripon, also the international affairs secretary of BNP, alleged that the government is trying to eliminate the BNP leadership by implicating leaders in sabotage related cases. He warned that it would not do any good to democracy.
The BNP leader also rejected the allegations made by the government that the BNP was responsible for the acts of sabotage.
Replying to a question, the BNP leader said the government should make it clear to public as to why Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam was removed from the cabinet.
He also called upon the politicians to take lesson from the 1/11 changeover of power. Barrister Ziaur Rahman, Advocate Abdus Salam Azad and Masud Ahmed Talukder, among others, were present at the press conference.
