Politics
AL staging drama over issue of Khaleda's politics with evil motive
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged Awami League has started staging dramas over the issue of Khaleda Zia’s scope to do politics with an evil motive.
Speaking at a discussion he also said the ruling party leaders need not talk about the issue as the BNP chief herself and her party will decide whether she’ll engage in politics or not.
"Begum Khaleda Zia has been kept under house arrest and she’s very ill…the government has started staging various dramas about her. Some ministers said that Khaleda Zia is not allowed to do politics. Another minister said she has no obstacle to doing politics,” the BNP leader said.
He questioned why the ruling party leaders have become so desperate to talk about whether the BNP chief can do politics or not. “Their intentions are absolutely evil. They want to confuse the people of the country and divert their attention to a different direction.”
Fakhrul said the Awami League leaders will not be able to mislead BNP as their party’s now only focus is on restoring the voting and other lost rights of the country’s people by ousting the Awami League government.
“We no longer want to see this government. This regime must resign and dissolve parliament right now. You can’t fool people by talking about this thing (Khaleda’s politics.),” he said.
The BNP leader said Khaleda Zia will do politics when the suitable time comes. “She’ will surely do politics, no matter where she stays as she is the most popular leader in the country.” So you (AL leaders) don't need to talk about it. She’ll take her decision and the party will take it.”
Fakhrul said the government can release Khaleda without any condition if it wants her to return to politics.
Jatiyatabadi Tanti Dal arranged the discussion programme at the Jatiya Press Club, marking its 43rd founding anniversary.
Khaleda has been convicted in a case of corruption in Zia Orphanage Trust and sentenced to 10 years in jail. In another corruption case involving Zia Charitable Trust, she has been given seven years of imprisonment.
Her jail terms have been suspended by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on humanitarian grounds considering her poor health following a petition by her family.
The issue of Khaleda's opportunity to do politics as a convict has come into discussion as the law minister recently said that Khaleda can participate in politics, but not in the next general elections. Later, various ministers made comments disagreeing with the law minister.
AL, not BNP in ICU
Fakhrul urged the government to give attention to people’s problems instead of thinking about Khaleda. “The people's main problem is that they can’t elect their representatives with their votes. There’s no people's parliament and people now can't talk.”
He urged the government to step down, and dissolve parliament for establishing a government of people by holding a credible election under a non-party neutral administration.
The BNP leader said the ruling party leaders used to accuse BNP of rigging votes, but Awami League has been indulging in vote rigging since 1973. “You rigged votes in the last two national elections. I want to say firmly, BNP has never stolen votes.”
Slamming the government for harassing BNP leaders and activists by implicating them in ‘false and ghost cases, Fakhrul said the government should be ashamed of filing cases against 40 lakh leaders and activists of the opposition parties.
He also came down hard on Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader for his comment that BNP will go to ICU, saying it is Awami League that has already been there in the ICU as it has got bankrupt politically.
“Why’re you so scared of holding the election under a neutral government? The reason behind your fear is that you know if the election is held under a neutral government, you won’t get even 20 seats and will lose your security money as well,” the BNP leader said.
Left leaders with 14-party worse than AL
In an oblique reference to Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon’s comment the ruling Awami League-led 14-party alliance is "non-functional", he said Jatiya Party and some renowned leaders of the left parties joined the 2014 polls with Awami League amid the boycott by BNP and took the share of the advantage of power.
"Now they (left leaders) are in little difficulty and they’re not made ministers and given the share of the advantage of power properly. So, they’re now saying the 14-party is no longer functioning,” Fakhrul said.
He also said these left leaders are worse than Awami League. “There're now some people in this country whose job it is to pander and flatter the government and work against the interests of the people.”
The BNP leader said left leaders who are with the 14-party alliance used to criticise BNP whenever they get a chance, but they’re not playing their due role and talking about democracy, people’s voting rights, and the government’s corruption.
Khaleda undergoes health check-up at Evercare, returns home
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia underwent health check-ups at Evercare Hospital in the capital on Monday.
She arrived at the hospital from her Gulshan residence around 5:35 pm and stayed there for over one and a half hours, said her media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan.
He said the BNP chairperson underwent several tests at the hospital as per the advice of her medical board.
The BNP chief left the hospital around 7: 13 pm and reached her residence at 8:22 pm, he said.
Khaleda’s personal physician AZM Zahid Hossain said the medical board formed earlier, led by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, advised her to go under the health check-ups at the hospital.
"She underwent various necessary medical tests at the hospital. The test reports will be available by tomorrow (Tuesday),” he said.
Read more: Khaleda to do politics if a favourable environment in place: BNP
Zahid said the medical board will decide her next course of treatment after assessing her health condition and test reports.
Asked about Khaleda’s physical condition, he said, "Her condition is as before and it remains unchanged.”
Khaleda, a 77-year-old former prime minister, has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.
She received treatment at the same hospital six times since she was infected with Coronavirus in April, 2021.
In November 2021, Khaleda Zia was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis.
Read more: No external pressure over letting Khaleda do politics: Law Minister
AL govt involved in BDR carnage: Fakhrul
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday alleged that Awami League and its government were involved in the BDR mutiny at the Pilkhana Headquarters that left 57 army officers killed.
“The Awami League government gets unnerved whenever February 25 comes. One of their (govt’s) ministers said yesterday (Saturday) whether our leaders Begum Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman were involved in that carnage,” he said.
Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader further said, “We would like to say very clearly that Awami League and its government were fully involved in this killing. With their direct cooperation and through their conspiracy and plan, this BDR carnage was carried out to turn Bangladesh into a weak subservient state and to completely demoralise the patriotic army of the country.”
Fakhrul said the government’s involvement can easily be understood as it talked to the rebel leaders and made a negotiation with them at the time of the mutiny. “What kind of negotiation was it? You compromised with those who were killing the smart officers of our army."
As per the rules of the Army, he said the mutiny must be suppressed through intervention, not by another means. “Moeen U Ahmed was the then Army Chief who played the main role in destroying democracy in Bangladesh through 1/11 (political changeover) and who tried to hamper the country’s independence and destroy the army.”
BNP arranged the discussion at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity (DRU) in memory of 57 army officers killed in the BDR mutiny 14 years back.
On 25-26 February 2009, a cabal of the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) killed 74 people, including 57 army officers, of the paramilitary force at the Pilkhana Headquarters.
Following the heinous killings of the army officers at the Pilkhana headquarters, the government renamed the mutiny-hit paramilitary force BDR as Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), changing its logo as well as uniform.
Fakhrul criticised the media for 'not running any news' on the BDR mutiny on Saturday.
“Unfortunately we note with sadness that yesterday (Saturday) was February 25, but there was not even a single column of news in any newspaper of the country about the horrific carnage that had taken place on that day,” he said.
Fakhrul said there is a positive sign that the country’s people have started taking to the streets to restore democracy and their voting and other rights.
“We’ve already been on the streets and we’ve been observing different programmes in protest against the price hikes in the daily essentials, including rice, pulses, oil and fuel, since August last year,” he said.
During the current movement, the BNP leader claimed that police gunned down their party’s 17 leaders and activists while many others were arrested and sent to jail by implicating them in false cases. “We must get rid of such an awful situation.”
He called upon people from all walks of life and all political parties to get united to establish a pro-people and democratic government through a credible election under a non-party administration.
"No election will be held in Bangladesh until the caretaker government is established. No elections will be allowed before that,” Fakhrul warned.
He said their moving ached with their peaceful programmes in a democratic manner. “They (govt) are obstructing our programmes…they can’t stop us as people will come up with resistance very soon and we’ll move forward with redoubled speed.”
Speaking at the programme, BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the Awami League government must be held responsible to people someday for its all misdeeds, corruption, looting and killing incidents carried out by it.
"The people of the country have their backs against the wall. They’re waking up. Inshallah, the unelected, undemocratic, usurper and illegitimate government will be ousted. We will be there on the streets with the people until this government is removed,” he said.
BNP leader dies during road march in Chuadanga
A local leader of BNP died of a stroke while attending the party’s road march in Chuadanga district on Saturday afternoon.
The deceased was identified as Abdul Zabbar Bablu, president of BNP's Alamdanga upazila unit.
Sources said Chuadanga BNP arranged a road march in the district as part of the party’s countrywide programme on Saturday afternoon. Abdul Zabbar suffered a stroke when he took part in the programme.
Later, he was taken to Chuadanga Sadar Hospital where the doctors declared him dead, said Dr. Fateh Akram, Resident Medical Officer of the hospital.
“The body will be handed over after completing the post-mortem," he added.
Seeking grassroots support, BNP to march at thana-level of cities March 4
As part of the ongoing simultaneous movement, the BNP and its associate bodies and like-minded parties will march in all thanas under their divisional cities on March 4 (next Saturday) to press home their 10-point demand, including holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.
The main opposition party announced the fresh programme shortly after the launch of their march in all districts of the country today (Saturday) - which was part of the same series of programmes
The programme will also protest against the rise in the prices of power, gas and essential items, and pressure the government to release BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia without any condition, essentially to drop the 'false' cases against her, and now and to accept the party’s 10-point demand.
In a statement, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir urged the party rank and file to make the party’s movement a success with their spontaneous participation, to force the government to accept their 10-point demand and quit.
BNP Standing Committee members and the party’s senior leaders participated in the district-level programme.
Today's nationwide march programme in all districts by the BNP to press home their 10-point demand was observed on Saturday amid clashes and obstruction in nine districts.
The leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies alleged that the ruling party activists attacked them in Jhalokathi, Nilphamari and Netrokona when they tried to observe their march programme there.
Besides, they said police charged batons on the opposition leaders and activists in Patuakhali while law enforcers opened fire on a procession in Cumilla.
BNP could not hold the march programme in Bagerhat and Rajbari due to obstructions reportedly by police while the party leaders and activists cut short the programme in Gazipur and Magura in the face of police obstruction.
Besides, the party’s march programme was foiled as a crude bomb exploded in front of its office in Natore before the start of the march.
In his statement, Mirza Fakhrul strongly condemned and protested the incident and said the government was trying to create anarchy by attacking the opposition’s peaceful march programme as it got scared of the ongoing movement.
He claimed that over 100 BNP leaders and activists were injured in attacks by police and ruling party ‘cadres’ on the march programme in different districts.
From December last year, BNP and like-minded parties and alliances started a simultaneous movement to bring down the government, or at least realise the all-important caretaker or non-party provision ahead of the next election.
Besides, the leaders and activists of BNP’s Dhaka north and south city units observed the march programme in five areas in the capital since January 28.
The party also arranged a similar programme in all unions and divisional cities across the country to press home their 10-point demand.
AL to resist anything nefarious on behalf of nation: Dipu Moni
The Awami League will resist any nefarious move with the help of the people of Bangladesh, said Education Minister Dipu Moni on Saturday.
“An identified evil force wants to destabilize the country ahead of the national election. They want to wreak havoc once more, as they did in 2013 and 2014. However, Bangladesh Awami League will strongly oppose any vicious move with the people of the country,” she said.
The education minister, also the Awami League Joint General Secretary, said this while talking to the reporters at the diamond jubilee ceremony of Chandpur Govt College.
Also Read: BNP conspiring to regain power illegally: Dipu Moni
“The Awami League's peace rally today is part of the effort to move Bangladesh forward,” she said, adding: “This program is to ensure that we can continue our development work and build Smart Bangladesh.”
Our programs are not counter to any party’s programs, she explained and said, “We have always been in the field and will always be. We are in the government, we are also with the people of the country in the field. We have always been present to safeguard peace, order, and people's lives, and we will remain so in the future."
Md Hasanuzzaman Kollol, secretary to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Md Anisur Rahman, election commissioner, Faruk Hossain, former secretary and author, and Kamrul Hasan, DC of Chandpur, were among those present at the ceremony.
Go to people, Sheikh Hasina asks party leaders
Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday directed the leaders and workers of local Awami League to further strengthen the party ahead of the next general election.
She gave the direction while exchanging views with the leaders of Kotalipara Upazila Awami League at Kotalipara.
Prime Minister’s Deputy Press Secretary KM Shakhawat Moon said that Sheikh Hasina also asked the party leaders and workers to remain united and highlight success stories of the Awami League-led government achieved over last 14 years.
Also Read: Step up vigilance against militancy, drugs and terrorism: PM Hasina
"Leaders and workers will have to go to the doors of the people and project before them the development taken place across the country since 2009," she said.
25 BNP leaders, activists detained over road march in Bagerhat
Police today detained some 25 BNP activists and leaders, including a central leader, on charges of attempts to carry out subversive activities and chaos following a road march in Bagerhat district.
BNP, however, claimed that police held at least 40 leaders and activists from different areas after a “peaceful” road march in the district.
The detainees included central assistant publicity secretary Shamimur Rahman Shamim, district unit BNP’s former president MA Salam, its incumbent convener ATM Akram Hossain Selim Talim, and another leader Ali Robi, among others.
Also Read: Police prevented BNP’s road march in Patuakhali, local leaders say
Protesting the detainment and obstruction to their programme, BNP central committee Education Affairs Secretary ABM Dr Obaidul Islam at an instant press conference at Bagerhat Press Club around 11am alleged that at least 40 BNP men were detained centring the road march over several demands including resignation of the government and controlling price hike of essentials.
The BNP leader also announced a programme to be observed at each police station in all metropolitan cities on March 4, protesting the obstruction and detention of their party members across the country today.
Md Asaduzzaman, superintendent of police in the district, said they apprehended some 20 to 25 BNP men after receiving information that the party men were hatching plans to carry out subversive activities and disorder in the name of the road march.
Verification was going on about the detainees and legal actions will be taken in this connection later, the SP added.
Fakhrul questions investigation into 2009 BDR mutiny
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday alleged that there was no proper investigation into the killings of 57 army officers in the BDR mutiny in 2009.
"We think the way this incident should have been investigated and the way the investigation process should have been conducted to bring out the real offenders and the masterminds through a fair investigation, that didn’t happen unfortunately,” he said.
Fakhrul came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after placing wreaths at a monument set up at Banani Army Graveyard in memory of the army officials killed in the Pilkhana carnage, marking the 14th anniversary of the incident.
He said the Army had conducted an investigation into the BDR mutiny incident, but the nation has not yet got the full report of that probe.
The BNP leader said some people were awarded death sentences and life imprisonment in a case filed in connection with the mutiny and subsequent killings.
But he lamented that the trial of another case filed under the Explosive Substances Act in connection with the same incident has not yet been completed, forcing many soldiers of the erstwhile Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) who claim themselves innocent still stay in jail.
"I was in prison a few days ago. I saw there that many ex-BDR members who were made accused in this case have been living inhumanly for 13/14 years. Their families and future are ruined,” Fakhrul said.
He demanded the government take steps to complete the trial in the explosive case so that those who are innocent can return to normal life with their families.
On 25-26 February 2009, a mutiny in the then Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) left 74 people, including 57 army officers, murdered at the Pilkhana Headquarters.
Govt making a joke about constitution: Nazrul
BNP senior leader Nazrul Islam Khan on Friday alleged that the government is making a joke about the constitution.
"What have you (govt) started? You talk about the constitution. You’re actually making a joke about the constitution. It’s written in the constitution to establish socialism, but you practice free market economy. Do these two things go together? It’s also written that the state religion is Islam, but you say you’re not biased to any religion,” he said.
Speaking at a rally, the BNP leader said the government is also trying to resist the people's movement using the constitution as an excuse. “It’s impressible to suppress a public movement. No one could do it in the past. We’ll move ahead defying all barriers.”
Read: Khaleda to do politics if a favourable environment in place: BNP
Bangladesh Sammalita Peshajibi Parishad arranged the programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding the government to stop its naked interference on the freedom of expression and reopen the closed media outlets, including the Daily Din Kal, and to annul all the ‘black laws’, including the Digital Security Act.
Nazrul, BNP Standing Committee member, promised that they will reopen the newspaper and TV channels that were 'unjustly shutdown by the current regime if their party returns to power.
He urged the authorities of the TV channels who are running ‘false’ reports and propaganda quoting various sources against BNP should stop such practice in the interests of true journalism".
Read: Khaleda has no chance to do politics as convict: Quader
Stating that the country was liberated at the cost of blood of the millions of people, the BNP leader said, people will not allow the ruling party to ruin it.
“The country’s people have got united to oust this regime. The common people in villages and rural areas also have got united and they are not afraid of repressive acts,” he observed.
Khan has suggested the ruling party to go to tea stalls and ride bus in disguise to hear what people say about the government, Awami League MPs and leaders.