The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, has strongly condemned the killing of a Hindu monastery priest, Jogeshwar Roy, and attack on devotees with guns and bombs at Panchagarh. She said the incident bears ominous signs for the future. In a strongly worded statement yesterday (Tuesday), the BNP supremo demanded the arrest of and exemplary  punishment for the killers. She accused the government of failing to stop such bloodshed since the killing of Caeser Tavella and many others, including foreigners. Khaleda expressed her strong resentment over the killing of the priest with a meat cleaver and inflicting severe injuries to other devotees. She said the incident is nothing but barbarity sans humanity and an expression of perverted animal tendency.
The BNP chairperson further said the country’s eminent citizens have warned about the emergence of  extremist-militant power. “This happens if people are kept under repression of one-party rule of a fascist system. Many countries have seen the birth of barbarous insensitive groups as a fall-out of one-party rule. They had no conscience and their repulsive, destructive activities destroyed civilisations. The world has been a witness to this. Such forces have taken countries to the edge,” the BNP leader observed.
She said from the killing of the Italian, Tavella, the barbarity has now reached Debiganj in Panchagarh. Khaleda further said people belonging to different communities, priests, bloggers and publishers and foreigners have been killed ruthlessly. “It appears we’re walking through a cemetery. People are asking what is the government doing at this moment of extreme crisis.” The former Premier alleged that the government was not moved by the killing after killing. Neither has it been able to resolve any of the cases. Instead, the government was putting the blame on the BNP and other Opposition parties, instituting false and baseless cases against their leaders and activists after the incidents, complained the BNP chairperson. Khaleda further said that the Awami League chief and its leaders have only been talking about militants at home and abroad. But it was during the BNP’s rule that steps were taken to eliminate militancy from the country, punishing the culprits by arresting them. the former Premier claimed.