fizzling out of movements
Fakhrul tells BNP leaders to find out cause
BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday (Monday) asked party leaders and activists to find out why movements are not gathering the required momentum despite the partys huge popularity. He was speaking at a meeting at the Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDE,B) to mark five years of the disappearance of party leader Ilias Ali.
Senior BNP leaders, who also spoke on the occasion, observed that the party is not being strengthened due to mistrust and suspicion within the organisation.
The government is carrying out killings and enforced disappearances to resist opponents and cling to power, they said. The leaders also identified internal weaknesses of the party. The Sylhet Division Solidarity Conference organised the meeting, demanding safe return of the BNP leader. Its president, Abdul Quaiyum, was in the chair.
The BNP secretary general regretted that the party failed to take steps regarding Ilias Alis disappearance during the last five years.
Then BNP organising secretary and former lawmaker, Ilias Ali, went missing on April 17, 2012. The BNP alleged Ilias Ali was kidnapped by security forces of the Awami League government as part of suppression of the Opposition, but the
government had denied the charge. We could have played a stronger role on the issue. The blockade launched after Ilias Ali became a victim of enforced disappearance was successful. But I dont know why the movement fizzled out gradually, observed Fakhrul.
He said they do not know why the party is failing repeatedly, adding that there may be a problem somewhere that they are not aware of. Had we been able to raise the issue before the international community repeatedly, the mask of the government would have come off, he added.
He called upon the organisers to put up the issue in the international arena and assured them of support. On the Teesta issue, the BNP secretary general said the country needs agreements on water sharing of all the 54 common rivers, as most of its people are dependent on agriculture.
The present government has no public support. So, it has no power to get waters of the Teesta, he added. BNP standing committee members Mirza Abbas and Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Enam Ahmed Chowdhury, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and Ilias Alis wife, Tahsina Rushdi Luna, among others, also spoke on the occasion.
