Awami League (AL) general secretary Obaidul Quader said yesterday that they would have no further dialogue with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as its chairperson Khaleda Zia celebrates her “fake birthday” on August 15. This day is observed as National Mourning Day as Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was murdered on this day. “We’ll have no dialogue with the BNP in future. Khaleda Zia is responsible for creating such a situation. She is spoiling the environment for holding a dialogue by celebrating her fake birthday on this day,” said Quader, who is also the road transport and bridges minister.

Quader was talking to reporters yesterday after paying tribute at the portrait of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in front of Bangabandhu Bhaban at Dhanmondi-32.

He said BNP chief Khaleda Zia has “disrupted the normal flow of democracy” by observing her birthday on August 15. “This is not her birthday according to her marriage certificate and passport,” he added. The minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to meet Khaleda to console her after the death of the latter’s younger son Arafat Rahman Koko.

He claimed Khaleda had refused to meet Hasina. Had Begum Zia met the Prime Minister on that day, there would have been a favourable environment for holding talks, he said.

Replying to a reporter’s question about the escaped killers of Bangabandhu, the AL general secretary said: “We’re trying to bring back those fugitives.”

At a food distribution programme in the city, AL joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif demanded the posthumous

trial of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman for his alleged involvement in the gruesome assassination of Bangabandhu.

“Ziaur Rahman has been identified as the planner of Bangabandhu’s murder. I think he should be brought under posthumous trial so that the people of the country come to know about the conspiracy,” he said.

He claimed that there is a growing public demand in the country for Ziaur Rahman’s posthumous trial for being the alleged mastermind behind the carnage of August 15, 1975. There is also a demand to bring back the escaped killers of Bangabandhu, he added.