BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia yesterday termed the Awami League (AL) a party of militants, saying that the country would be safer if leaders and activists of the ruling party were detained. She was speaking at an iftar mahfil, organised by a faction of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ) and the Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ), at the Supreme Court Bar Association auditorium. The former premier said AL activists have a large quantity of arms and ammunition at their disposal, adding that militancy would be curbed in the country if they were arrested. Terming the AL government unelected and illegal, Khaleda said the AL would have quit power and held a fresh election, had there been some semblance of dignity in its leadership. Khaleda alleged that policisation has destroyed the independence of the judiciary. Hence, people have lost their faith in the judiciary, she added.
She said her government had caught militants, but the AL has failed to do so. “They are grabbing the property of common people. No one is safe now,” she added. She said that the ruling party has also grabbed the Jatiya Press Club. The BNP chief alleged that about 15,000 people were arrested in the name of curbing militancy in the recent crackdown, but there was no real criminal among them. “These people were arrested for nothing. Of them, about 3,000 are BNP leaders and activists,” she said.  “There is no logic in what the goernment is doing. The AL-led government is following the path of the Fakhruddin-Moeenuddin-led caretaker government,” she said.   
Khaleda said the Fakhruddin-Moeenuddin-led caretaker government had filed 15 cases against AL president Sheikh Hasina and 12 cases against herself. “She (Hasina) has withdrawn all the 15 cases filed against her, but the cases lodged against me have been kept open,” she expressed regret.