Politics
AL syndicate looting money by controlling goods market, supply chain: BNP
BNP senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday alleged that the ruling-party-backed syndicate is hiking the prices of imported goods unusually by establishing its control on the market and supply chain.
“Those who are looting the market every day and increasing the prices of goods are the people of the Awami League syndicate. Only those who belong to Awami League can now open LCs for the import of goods,” he said.
Speaking at a discussion, the BNP leader also said dollars are now being given to the ruling party-supported importers to open LCs and import goods.
“But ordinary importers are not able to import the goods as they’re not given dollars. So, those who are importing goods by opening LC are selling the imported goods in the market at high prices. As the supply chain is in the hands of people belonging to the ruling party, they are controlling the market and hiking the prices of the imported goods,” he observed.
Jatiyatabadi Sanskritik Dal, the BNP's cultural front, arranged the programme at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity protesting the price hikes in oil gas and all essential goods and a recent attack on BNP joint secretary general Khairul Kabir Khokon in Narsingdi.
Khosru, a BNP standing committee member and a former commerce minister, said the main reason behind the increase in commodity prices is the Awami economy model. “They (AL) have created that model for plundering, but the common people of Bangladesh are paying a heavy price for it…the lines behind the trucks of TCB are getting longer day by day, exposing people’s real condition.”
According to the current economic model of Awami League, he said the government will extract money from the people's pockets by increasing VAT, taxes, and the prices of gas, electricity, oil, and daily essentials, including imported goods. “Later, the ruling party people will loot the money and siphon off it abroad.
Read more: BNP finds “govt syndicate” behind price hike
The BNP leader bemoaned that the resources and money of the country are being accumulated in the hands of less than one percent today, destroying the lives of common people. “This wealth is not only being accumulated in Bangladesh as they (AL leaders) are taking it abroad and making assets in Canada, Dubai, USA, UK, Malaysia, and Turkey by siphoning off money abroad. “People belonging to Awami League are accumulating wealth all over the world.”
He called upon people from all walks of life to get united to protect the country and establish a pro-people government through a fierce movement.
Referring to the meetings of US State Department Counsellor Derek Chollet with the PM, Foreign Minister, and senior journalists, Khosru said the US senior official has given a clear message that the relation and cooperation of America will decline with a country where democracy erodes.
"It’s a very strong warning and he issued it sitting on the soil of Bangladesh, and said there is no compromise on the issue of human rights, democracy, and press freedom. The democratic countries that believe in human rights, the rule of law, public security, and freedom of speech are now saying these words,” he observed.
Fakhrul returns from Singapore
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir returned home on Thursday from Singapore after receiving medical treatment there for a week.
The BNP secretary general along with his wife Rahat Ara Begum landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines around 6:30pm, said BNP chairperson's media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan.
On February 10, Fakhrul and his wife went to Singapore for a follow-up health checkup and treatment.
The 76-year-old BNP secretary general received treatment at Singapore National University Hospital.
In 2015, while incarcerated, Fakhrul was diagnosed with a block in the internal carotid artery of his neck.After his release, he went to Singapore for treatment. Since then, he needs to go to Singapore every year for follow-up treatment.
BNP goes to embassies covertly, AL held meeting after being invited: Quader meets EU heads of missions
Road Transport and Bridges Minister and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader today said that both the European Union (EU) and his party want an inclusive election that will be free and fair.
“The European Union wants to see a participatory national election. Awami League also wants a good, fair election that will be free of issues. However, BNP is trying to use tactics out of fear of losing the election,” Quader said at a briefing after a meeting with heads of missions of European countries in Dhaka this morning.
The EU diplomats met the Awami League general secretary as part of EU’s engagement with political parties ahead of the parliamentary election.
Saying that BNP is attempting to come to power “relying on arson attacks, terrorism and through destabilizing the country,” Quader added, “BNP does not believe in dialogue. They did not participate in dialogues with the president and the Election Commission.”
Awami League does not follow anyone’s orders; rather it only goes by the constitution, the minister asserted.
“BNP goes to embassies covertly, without informing anyone, but Awami League has come after being invited,” he said, adding that meaningful discussions were held on various issues including election and international trade.
Read more: BNP is the master of vindictive politics: Obaidul Quader
Quoting Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Quader said, “The upcoming election will be credible, fair and free. The Election Commission will play an independent and authoritative role. Sheikh Hasina’s government will provide all kinds of support to the Election Commission.”
Representatives from seven European Union countries were present at the meeting.
BNP maintains silence on President-elect Shahabuddin
BNP has remained silent about the newly elected President, Md Shahabuddin, even after a meeting of its standing committee, maintaining the party’s ‘no-comment stance’ on the issue.
“You asked about this issue (presidential election) in the last press briefing. I will answer the same today (Wednesday). We have no comment on this,” BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told reporters.
Speaking at a press conference at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office, he said their party has no interest in the presidential election. “So, we don’t want to talk about the issue.”
Two other BNP standing committee members Nazrul Islam Khan and Selima Rahaman who were present at the programme were also tight-lipped on the issue.
The press meet was arranged to inform the media about the outcome of a virtual meeting of the BNP standing committee held on Monday.
Awami League on Sunday submitted the papers to the Election Commission (EC) nominating Mohammed Shahabuddin, a retired district judge, a former commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and a member of the AL Advisory Council, as its presidential candidate.
On Monday, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced that ruling party nominee Shahabuddin was elected unopposed. Later, the EC issued a gazette notification declaring Md Shahabuddin the 22nd president-elect of the country.
Musharraf said the country’s people are actively participating in the programmes of BNP as they no longer want to see the current 'failed' regime in power. “People have continued their struggle for a victory braving all repressive acts.”
Also read: BNP reschedules its road march in capital to Feb 17
He alleged that the ruling party is increasingly trying to incite violence by announcing counter programmes on days of the opposition’s scheduled programmes.
“As the opposition parties are not consciously falling into this trap and not responding to the provocation, the ministers and ruling party leaders are making unguarded comments about the ongoing peaceful movement out of frustration,” he observed.
The BNP leader claimed that their party leaders and activists in all unions took to the streets on Saturday last for observing their road march programme.
He said Awami League announced a counter programme the same day in the name of a ‘peace rally’ in all unions, but they failed to hold the programmes in most unions. Mosharraf said Awami League is only exposing its organizational weakness by announcing counter programmes.
BNP reschedules its road march in capital to Feb 17
The BNP has moved up its road march in the capital city by a day, deciding to organise the programme on February 17 instead of February 18 ‘due to unavoidable reasons’.
BNP acting office secretary Syed Imran Saleh announced the decision of the party at a press conference at its Nayapaltan central office on Tuesday.
He, however, said the date for staging a similar programme in all other metropolitan cities—Chattogram, Rajshahi, Khulna, Barishal, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Cumilla, Faridpur,
Narayanganj and Gazipur-- remains February 18 as per the previous announcement of the party.“Our party earlier announced to organise marches in all metropolitan cities on February 18 (Saturday). The date of the programme in the capital has been rescheduled for some unavoidable reasons,” Prince said.
As per the changed schedule, he said BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units will march on February 17 (Friday) separately at 2:30 pm.
Also read: Now BNP announces march in divisional cities on Feb 18
Prince called upon the leaders, activists and supporters of BNP and its associate bodies in all thanas and wards under the metropolitan cities to take full preparation for making their march programme a success with their spontaneous participation and thus intensify the movement for realsing the party’s 10-point demand and protesting the public suffering.
Earlier on Sunday last, BNP Standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain announced that their party leaders and activists will march in all metropolitan cities, including the capital, on February 18 (Saturday) to press home their 10-point demand, including the resignation of the government, dissolution of parliament and holding the next general election under a non-party caretaker government.
He made the announcement while launching BNP Dhaka north city unit’s road march towards the capital's Bosila from Shyamoli.
The fresh programme is also meant for registering the party’s protest against the unbridled price hikes in power and gas, and all daily essentials, including rice, lentils, oil, flour and salt and the government’s repressive acts.
BNP’s like-minded parties and alliances that have been carrying out the simultaneous movement will observe a similar programme in all cities as per the changed date.
Earlier, leaders and activists of the party’s Dhaka north and south city units observed the march programme on January 28, 31, 30 and February 1, respectively, to push for their 10-point demand.
The party also organised a march programme in all unions across the country on Saturday last amid the allegations of attacks and obstruction by the ruling party activists and law enforcers.
Manna criticizes new president's nomination process by PM
Opposing the nomination process of the country’s new President by the Awami League’s Parliamentary Party (ALPP), Nagorik Oikya convenor Mahmudur Rahman Manna on Monday said it has manifested that the Prime Minister alone can appoint the head of the state.
“An indecent incident has happened this time. One thing is manifested that the Prime Minister can appoint the President. Taking a resolution (in the ALPP meeting), it was said that she (PM) would nominate whomever she thinks,” he said.
Manna also said there should have a minimum decorum like election and voting in nominating the president…“But all these things were trampled. This shows how arbitrary a person can be. It has also demonstrated that they will do the same thing to win the next polls.”
He made the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting between the liaison committees of the BNP and the Ganatantra Mancha at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office.
Earlier on February 7, the ALPP unanimously gave AL President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the power to nominate the party’s candidate for president.
Read: Md Shahabuddin declared elected president of Bangladesh: Gazette
Awami League on Sunday submitted the papers to the Election Commission (EC) nominating Mohammed Shahabuddin, a retired district judge, a former commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and a member of the AL Advisory Council, as its presidential candidate.
On Monday, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Habibul Awal announced that ruling party nominee Shahabuddin was elected unopposed.
Later, the EC issued a gazette notification declaring Md Shahabuddin the 22nd president-elect of the country.
Sought his reaction in this regard, BNP standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku declined to make any comment. “Our reaction will come from our party. I can’t give a reaction from this meeting (of liaison committee).”
“I can only say many possible things can be impossible and many impossible things can be possible in a country that is run by one individual,” Tuku said.
Earlier, the leaders of the BNP and Ganatantra Mancha had an hour-long meeting where they discussed the ongoing simultaneous movement and assessed the programmes they have so far observed.
Govt launches fresh crackdown on opposition: BNP
BNP on Monday alleged that the government has launched a fresh drive to arrest the leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies across the country ahead of the 12th parliamentary election.
“Any peaceful programme of opposition political parties, including BNP, is being attacked and reckless mass arrests are being carried out. The Awami illegitimate regime has resorted to the old game of mass arrests of BNP leaders and activists across the country to cling to power again in illegal ways,” said BNP assistant office secretary Syed Imran Saleh Prince.
Speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he also alleged that BNP leaders and activists who participated in the peaceful march at the union level on Saturday are being implicated in false and ghost cases.
“The law enforcers and Awami cadres have now taken a position against the people ahead of the 12th parliamentary polls…even the ghost cases are being filed where the (road march) programme was held peacefully,” the BNP leader said.
He said the ruling party activists along with police set fire to outdated motorcycles at some places to file false cases against the opposition leaders and activists.
As per the information they have received as of Monday morning, Prince said 45 fresh false cases have been filed accusing 1706 identified and 4,517 unidentified opposition leaders and activists in connection with the union-level road march programme.
Read more: Govt rejects HRW statement over alleged crackdown on opposition
Besides, he said, over 300 BNP leaders and activists were arrested in different ‘false’ cases while around 600 BNP opposition activists were injured in attacks by police and ruling party men in different places on Saturday.
“In fact, the Awami League and the government have got unnerved seeing the presence of a huge number of leaders and activists of the BNP and its associate bodies in the road march programme in unions,” Prince observed.
He said the government has started its repressive and suppressive acts out of political vengeance as the BNP leaders and activists made the union-level march programme a success defying all obstacles and attacks.
“I would like to tell them that the 10-point movement has been accepted by the people and it has spread everywhere widely. The movement won’t be able to stop the movement by resorting to repression and plots. The fall of the illegal regime is imminent,” Prince said.
AL out to create chaos with counter programmes: BNP
BNP on Sunday alleged that Awami League is trying to create chaos in the country by inciting violence in the name of counter programmes as their party leaders and workers were attacked in the 43 districts while holding countrywide union-level march programmes on Saturday.
Speaking at a press conference at BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office, the party’s standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain also urged the ruling party to refrain from countering the opposition’s scheduled programmes.
“Awami League is creating chaos everywhere with counter programmes and they’re inciting violence. A political party gives counter-programmes when it becomes completely bankrupt,” the BNP leader said.
He said the ruling party is coming up with counter programmes as it feels scared of the ongoing movement of BNP.
Mosharraf said Awami League can hold their political programmes any day without countering the opposition’s protests. “Why do they have to give a programme on the day we announce any programme? This proves that the government is announcing counter programmes to create chaos as it has got unnerved to hide its failures and misdeeds.”
He said their party has been carrying out a movement on public issues in a peaceful manner. “People do not accept the way the government is obstructing our peaceful programmes.”
BNP arranged the press conference protesting and condemning the attacks and obstruction by the police and ruling party during the party’s March programme at the union level across the country yesterday (Saturday).
BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas said Awami League has been holding “peace marches and peace rallies” on the day opposition gives any street programme.
He said the ruling party leaders said they would give year-long programmes until the elections. “I would like to request the Awami League leaders that you please announce your programme schedules now so that we can later carry out our programmes in a safe place in a peaceful manner. But if the Awami League gives the counter programmes after the announcement of our programmes, it must be understood that they are deliberately trying to create a mess in the country."
Another BNP Standing committee member Abdul Moyeen Khan narrated how he faced obstruction by police in Narsingdi’s Palash upazila. "I would like to say clearly that this government cannot hinder the progress of democracy by attacking us. The people of Bangladesh will establish democracy in the country."
Mosharraf said their party leaders and activists came under attack on Saturday in 43 districts, including Sirajganj, Jamalpur, Feni, Naogaon, Kushtia, Patuakhali, Pirojpur, Manikganj, Noakhali, Jhalkathi, Gazipur, Chattogram, Netrakona, Barguna, Bagerhat, Meherpur, Chuadanga, Thakurgaon, Natore, Tangail, Chandpur, Mymensingh, Bhola, Barishal, Khulna, Laxmipur, Narsingdi, Magura, Jashore, Rajshahi, Narayanganj, Kishoreganj, Dhaka, Panchagarh, Cox's Bazar, Pabna, Rangpur, Lalmonirhat, Cumilla and Narail.
He claimed that around five hundred leaders and workers of BNP and its associate bodies were injured in those attacks while police arrested over 200 opposition activists on Saturday.
Mosharraf said the ruling party ‘cadres’ also attacked the houses and business establishments of the opposition leaders and activists.
He congratulated the people on making their union-level programme a success with their huge participation, defying various obstacles.
BNP has no interest in presidential election: Mosharraf
BNP senior leader Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain on Saturday said their party has no interest in the presidential election.
“We do not want to comment on what this government is doing or not doing,” he told reporters at a press conference at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office as they sought his comment on the ruling party’s nomination for the presidential election.
The BNP leader said the purpose of their press conference was to inform the media about the attacks and obstruction by the police and the ruling party activists during their party’s countrywide march programme at the union level on Saturday.
Mosharraf, a BNP standing committee member, said they are least bothered about who is going to be the next president of the country as their main focus is now on the ongoing movement for realizing their 10-point demand, including the restoration of the government, dissolution of parliament and holding the next polls under a caretaker government.
Awami League Advisory Council Member and freedom fighter Md Shahabuddin Chuppu is set to be the next President of Bangladesh as the ruling party nominated him as the party’s presidential candidate.
Also read: Profile of Md Shahabuddin
A delegation of Awami League, led by party General Secretary Obaidul Quader, went to the Election Commission in the morning and submitted the nomination paper of its presidential candidate.
Md Shahabuddin, a retired district and session judge, had served as a commissioner at the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Profile of Md Shahabuddin
Md Shahabuddin Chuppu, who is set to become the next President of Bangladesh, is a lawyer by profession and a member of the Advisory Council of Bangladesh Awami League.
Md Shahabuddin was born in Pabna in 1949 and was one of the first members of Pabna district Chhatra League, Awami League’s student wing. He would eventually become the unit’s president.
In 1971, he was the convenor of the Swadhin Bangla Chhatra Sangram Parishad in Pabna, and took part in Liberation War.
He became the president of the Pabna district Jubo League in 1974.
Read More: Md Shahabuddin Chuppu set to become country’s next president
He was imprisoned following the brutal assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1975. He was later appointed as the Law Ministry’s coordinator in the Bangabandhu assassination case.
In 1982, he joined the BCS (Judicial) Department, and in 1995, he was elected General Secretary of the Judicial Service Association.
He served as the chairman of the Judicial Inquiry Commission, which investigated murders, rapes, thefts, and other crimes by BNP-Jamaat alliance’s activists and leaders following the 2001 general election.
He also worked as a District and Sessions Judge and retired in 2006. He was a commissioner at Anti-Corruption Commission from 2011 to 2016.
Also Read: ‘Everything is Allah’s will’: Md Shahabuddin, set to become next President of Bangladesh
In the previous National Council of Bangladesh Awami League, he served as election commissioner.
He earned his LLB from Rajshahi University in 1975, and completed his MSc from the same institution.
Md Shahabuddin’s wife Prof Dr Rebecca Sultana, is a former joint secretary of the government.
According to the schedule, the presidential election will be held on February 19 as the tenure of incumbent President Abdul Hamid nears an end.
The final date for submitting nomination papers was February 12 and those will be reviewed on February 13, as per the EC.
The commission set February 14 as the final date for withdrawing nominations.
Voting will be held at Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban from 2 pm to 5 pm on February 19.
According to the constitution, a new president has to be elected within 90 to 60 days prior to the end of the incumbent president's tenure.
The previous presidential election schedule was announced on January 25, 2018.
Abdul Hamid was elected president unopposed for the second term on February 6 though the election was slated for February 18.
President Hamid is set to complete his tenure on April 23 this year