Politics
Bangladesh is number one in the world in terms of human rights violation: BNP
Stating that Bangladesh is number one in the world in terms of human rights violation, BNP senior leader Selima Rahman on Sunday urged the country’s people not to cooperate with the Awami League government.
Speaking at a human chain programme on the International Human Rights Day, she also said their party will remain on the streets until the fall of the current Awami League government.
“The people of the country are now united against the present fascist government. Bangladesh is now number one in terms of human rights violations. We are on the streets and we’ll be there until the fall of this regime,” she said.
Selima, also a BNP Standing Committee member, alleged that the government has been carrying out a steamroller of torture by attacking the BNP leaders and activists and implicating them in different ‘false’ cases over the last 15 years.
"There is no other place in the world where there is such oppression (on opposition) is going on. Many of our brothers and sisters can’t sleep at their homes due to police raids. If they (police) do not find the fathers, they take their sons, and if they don’t find the sons they take their fathers, mothers, brother and sister,” she said
In such a situation, the BNP leader said they will continue their street agitation as they will not accept the lopsided election.
“You (people) say no to this regime from wherever you can. Don’t take part in anything of the government. Even, those who are shop workers, keep your shops shut, stop travelling abroad and cut short your wedding parties, she said.
Selima also urged people from all walks of life to take to the streets and put up a strong resistance against the government’s muscle men and helmet forces who are
She claimed that over 20,000 BNP leaders and activists were arrested just in the last one month following the BNP’s October 28 grand rally at Nayapaltan which was foiled amid the clashes between the BNP leaders and workers and police.
The BNP leader claimed that the government deliberately attacked the BNP’s grand rally to foil the programme and create a ground to suppress the opposition.
She also claimed that the government has shut many offices of BNP, including the party's Nayapaltan central office.
She alleged that the jailed BNP leaders and activists are being deprived of their justified rights as prisoners since the judiciary of the country has been run by the orders of one person. “Nowhere in the world are human rights being violated as widely as in Bangladesh.”
BNP leaders and activists along with the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance and political killings under the banner of the party’s south and north city units formed the human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital, marking the International Human Rights Day and demanding the release of the party’s jailed leaders and workers.
The programme began formally with the recitation from the holy Quran around 10:55am.
Over a thousand BNP leaders and activists gathered in the area since morning to attend the programme amid the heavy presence of law enforcers.
As part of the party’s countrywide programme, BNP’s all district units also observed a similar programme in observance of Human Rights Day.
After enforcing countrywide blockades in 10 phases and hartal in three phases for the last one and a half months since October 29, BNP came up with a different programme like the human chain.
Some BNP central leaders, Zainal Abedin Farooq, Mostafizur Rahman Babul, Nazim Uddin Alam, Kaiser Kamal, Taiful Islam Islam Tipu, Afroza Abbas, Shirin Sultana, Mir Nawaz Ali, Sultana Ahmed, Rehana Akhtar Ranu and Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papia joined the human chain programme coming out of their hideouts.
Alongside the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Ganatantra Mancha, 12-party alliance, Jatiyatabadi Samomona Jote, the Liberal Democratic Party, Gonoforum and People’s Party, Labour Party, two factions of Gono Odhikar Parishad and Gonotantrik Bam Oikya also formed human chain programmes in the city’s different areas, marking the Human Rights Day.
The International Human Rights Day was observed in the country on Sunday as elsewhere across the world.
BNP forms human chain in front of JPC on Human Rights Day
BNP leaders and activists along with the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance and political killings formed a human chain in the capital, marking the international Human Rights Day on Sunday.
The programme began formally with the recitation from the holy Quran around 10:55am in front of the Jatiya Press Club with BNP standing committee member Selima Rahman in the chair.
Several hundred BNP leaders and activists gathered in the area since morning to attend the programme amid the heavy presence of law enforcers.
Read: BNP leaders face extreme human rights violation in jails: Rizvi
Besides, all district units of the opposition party are also set to observe a similar programme on the same day to highlight the issue of human rights violations in Bangladesh, said the party.
Speaking at a press briefing on Saturday, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said they want to observe the programme successfully as a symbol of protest against injustice.
‘Mayer Dak’, a platform of the families of the victims of enforced disappearance allegedly by government agencies, organised a rally together with the other family members of the victims of enforced disappearance in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Saturday
Read: Awami League not worried about any sanctions: Quader
The International Human Rights Day is being observed in the country on Sunday as elsewhere across the globe.
EU delegation holds meeting with Inu's JSD
Members of the Election Expert Mission from the European Union (EU) had a meeting with Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President Hasanul Haq Inu on Saturday afternoon.
The one and half hour long meeting was held at the residence of Hasanul Haq Inu in the city from 2:45pm, according to a press release.They discussed the country's situation ahead of the upcoming 12th parliamentary elections scheduled for January 7.
JSD General Secretary Shirin Akhter (also Inu's wife), Executive President Rabiul Alam, and EU Election Expert Mission's political expert Alexander Matus and Legal Rights Expert Rebecca Cox were present at the meeting.According to the press release, the EU delegation wanted to know about the constitution, electoral laws, caretaker government system, situation of 12th parliamentary polls, JSD's history as a political party and its stance and role, and the 14-party electoral alliance.
It said that Inu briefed the delegation about the matters and said that the rule of law remains established in the country as the judiciary often gives verdict against the executive division of the government to ensure justice for anyone affected by the executive division.
The 12th parliamentary election is going to be held as per the constitution, Inu said, adding that the Election Commission (EC) is moving ahead to hold the polls independently and efficiently based on the powers and jurisdiction given by the country's constitution.
The JSD president also said that elections would have been more competitive if BNP had joined the polls avoiding the path of terrorism and resisting polls.
Inu said the more competitive an election, the more beautiful it is.
He also expressed his hope that the role of the EU as a development partner of Bangladesh and in strengthening the democratic system and institutions in the country will continue in the future.
BNP leader Khandaker Mosharraf in ICU
BNP Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who was undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in the capital, has been shifted to the hospital's Intensive Care Unit as his condition deteriorated.
He was taken to the ICU from his cabin on Friday night, BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan told UNB.
Read: Families of victims of ‘enforced disappearance’ demand justice at Dhaka rally
The senior BNP leader was admitted to Evercare Hospital in Dhaka’s Bashundhara Residential Area on December 5.
His family members asked the nation to pray for him.
BNP Vice-Chairman Dr. AZM Zahid Hossain is keeping an eye on his overall physical condition.
Dr. Zahid Hossain also went to see the body of Barrister Mainul Hosein, who died around 6 pm at Evercare Hospital.
EC summons Amu for violating polls code of conduct
The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday summoned veteran Awami League leader Amir Hossain Amu, dangling a threat to cancel his candidature for violating the electoral code of conduct in his constituency of Jhalokathi on Friday.
The summons is part of an EC statement signed by its Director (Public Relations) Md Shariful Alam.
Amu, who is contesting from Jhalokathi-2 seat in the parliamentary elections billed for January 7, was asked to appear before the EC to explain why his candidature won’t be voided at 3pm on December 15, reads the statement.
Read: 'BNP itself the biggest violators of human rights': Hasan Mahmud
According to the statement, the AL leader, also president of the JS standing committee on Industries Ministry Affairs, was asked by the EC not to join any rally violating the electoral code of conduct in his constituency on Friday.
Despite the restriction, he addressed and sought vote for him at two separate programmes in the Hall Room of Nalchiti upazila and Sheikh Russell Mini Stadium of the district.
As per the ‘Code of Conduct of political parties and candidates in the parliamentary elections’, there is a provision of cancelling the candidature for breaching the polls code.
'BNP itself the biggest violators of human rights': Hasan Mahmud
Terming BNP as the biggest violators of human rights among all the domestic political parties, Information and Broadcasting minister Hasan Mahmud on Saturday said that people of the country will give BNP a befitting reply if they create chaos in the name of human rights.
The minister said this while addressing a rally organized by Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote marking the World Human Rights Day at the premise of Central Shahid Minar of the city.
Read: President Shahabuddin calls for vigilant anti-corruption efforts to foster development
The minister, also Joint Secretary of Bangladesh Awami League, said BNP is the country’s first party who snatches people rights and its founder Ziaur Rahman 'usurped power standing on the blood of the people'.
"The BNP-Jamaat are still carrying out programmes of attacking people, vehicles and property and torching vehicles in the name of blockade and hartal,” he added.
Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote executive president Mohammad Rafiqul Alam presided over the function while Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote general secretary Arun Sarker Rana conducted it.
Read: Adam Tamizi Haque taken to DB office
Lifetime achievement of National film award winner and film star Rozina, Former general secretary of Dhaka South City Awami League Shahe Alam Murad, Dhaka Union of Journalists (DUJ) Vice-President Manik Lal Ghosh, Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote film star Aruna Biswas, Publicity Secretary Lion Muhammad Mizanur Rahman, film star Shimla and newsreader Muna Chowdhury were present on the occasion.
Sajeeb Wazed cites reports on involvement of BNP men in arson attacks, ‘exposing cover-up drama’
A series of threats and ultimatums issued by BNP leaders followed by involvement of BNP-Jamaat men in burning buses and other vehicles alongside defending a corrupt leadership contradict the party’s claim of lack of level-playing field, Sajeeb Wazed, who spearheaded the Digital Bangladesh campaign, tweeted.
The tweet posted with a video on Sajeeb Wazed’s verified X account points to a “dismal show of support” during BNP’s rallies in support on the recent blockades. “Rallies brought out in support of blockade with demands to foil the polls in different parts mostly witnessed grim turnout,” it says.
“BNP’s verified social media handles have been vocal to prove the ongoing spree of violence has been masterminded by the government… they kept mum on concerns raised by civil society and minorities who equated the call by Tarique to decide the fate of the country on streets to clear instigation for violence,” the video says.
Read: A targeted ‘disinformation campaign’ over Sajeeb Wazed’s recent Dhaka visit
No explanation has come from any leader on the vision Jamaat-e-Islami leaders publicly offered – to enforce Sharia law in the country – from a rally on October 28, it adds.
Introducing one Mian Arefy as the “advisor to US President Joe Biden,” bringing him to the party office where flanked by BNP leaders, Arefy assured BNP and Jamaat of “support from the US President to ensure regime change in Bangladesh” demonstrate that hoax and smear campaigns have become part and parcel for BNP, the video says.
In reference to one senior BNP leader Amanullah Aman who last year issued a dictum that the country will be run by Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman, the video adds, such public ultimatums further expose the party’s leadership and supporters were preparing for the ongoing spell of violence for a long time.
Read: Sajeeb Wazed lashes out at 'BNP-Jamaat' over killing of Jubo League leader
Sajeeb Wazed’s post also referred to threats by several grassroots BNP leaders of restaging 1975-style coups that saw as many as 19 family members of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of the nation, assassinated.
Media reports revealed over the span of last one month that a number of activists from BNP and other affiliated bodies were caught red-handed while setting buses on fire, reads the post.
Moreover, a letter sent to foreign missions by BNP, claiming the attacks are orchestrated by AL, even went ahead to project Tarique Rahman, who stands convicted in a number of cases, as innocent – turning a blind eye to media reports on the fugitive acting BNP chief’s deep-rooted nexus with militant outfits who carried out the August 21 grenade attack, added the video.
Level playing field essential for credible elections: AB Party tells EU Mission
Amar Bangladesh Party, or AB Party, met the ‘European Union election expert mission to Bangladesh’ in Dhaka on Saturday.
AB Party meeting with David Noel Ward, team leader and electoral Expert, and Alexander Matus, a Political Expert, represented the Mission. Tajul Islam, an Advocate of the Supreme Court and a Joint Convenor of AB Party, Mojibur Rahman Monju, Member Secretary, Asaduzzaman Fuaad and Zubair Ahmed Bhuiyan, both Barrister-at-law and Joint Member Secretary of AB Party were present at the meeting.
EU Mission experts were, at the very outset, interested to learn about the AB Party, its objectives, programs and policy-based politics, in particular.
AB Party leaders explained the organisational structure, activities across the country, potentials of new generation politics, and challenges faced, especially by law enforcement agencies and ruling party militias. Denial of Electoral Registration to AB Party by the Election Commission was also raised. The EU Mission was updated on the outstanding Judicial Review application at the High Court.
Read: AB Party holds 'red-card' protest denouncing polls schedule
AB Party delegation raised concern about the lack of a level playing field in the forthcoming election.
Political violence leading up to the election and afterward is also a concern for the AB Party. Fake political parties and dummy candidates from the ruling party also undermine the credibility of the election. Even smaller parties are having ever-shrinking democratic space on the street. Post-election scenarios might deteriorate and violent civil unrest gets sporadic, AB Party feels concerned, a press release said.
BNP leaders face extreme human rights violation in jails: Rizvi
BNP Senior leaders Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Saturday alleged that their party's leaders and activists are being repressed and deprived of all facilities as prisoners, extremely violating their human rights.
"The current IG Prison has verbally directed all jail authorities to deprive all the prisoners belonging to BNP of all general facilities to appease Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” he said.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, the BNP leader also said the IG Prison has turned the jails across the country into Hitler's gas chamber and concentration camps by resorting to torture and seriously violating the rights of jailed BNP leaders and workers.
“BNP leaders and workers in jails are in distress now due to persecution,” he alleged.
Read: Level playing field essential for credible elections: AB Party tells EU Mission
Rizvi claimed that jailed BNP leaders and activists are not being allowed to go out of cells inside the prisons. “Even, the relatives have been barred from visiting the inmates and giving clothes for them and talking to them over the phone.”
The BNP leader said the prisons are no longer places of real social criminals as those are now filled with BNP leaders and workers since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power. “So, she is applying there all methods of oppression of fascism. In the prisons, she (Hasina) has appointed officers who are inspired by her ideology.”
He said Sheikh Hasina wants BNP leaders and workers to be harassed, persecuted and tortured in jails as they are persecuted outside before their arrest.
“A terrible persecution continues inside the prisons. This persecution is unprecedented. This oppression cannot be expressed in words. Overenthusiastic officers declared a sort of war against our party prisoners,” Rizvi said.
He strongly condemned and protested against this kind of torture on prisoners and strongly urged the authorities concerned to ensure the justified rights of the prisoners.
Read: Conspiracy to destabilize the country ahead of Human Rights Day exposed: Hasan Mahmud
The BNP leader also slammed the government for driving away the family members of the victims of enforced disappearance from Shahbagh and obstructing them from holding a rally in front of the National Museum on the eve of the International Human Rights Day.
"The victims of enforced disappearances and human rights violations cannot speak for themselves. A government of terrible enforced disappearances and crossfire and human rights abuses wants to maintain state power in such a way that no one can say anything against its crimes,” he observed.
Rizvi claimed that the police have arrested more than 175 BNP leaders and activists in the last 24 hours of 5pm on Saturday.
He also said their party’s 20,665 leaders and activists have been arrested since the last week of October this year.
BNP to form human chains on Dec 10 in protest against injustice: Rizvi
BNP has taken preparations to form human chains across the country, including in the capital, on December 10, together with the family members of victims of enforced disappearance and political killings, marking the international Human Rights Day.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing on Friday, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi talked about the party’s preparation for making the programme a success on Sunday.
In the capital, he said they will form a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club at 11am. “BNP’s Dhaka city units - North and South - have taken all necessary preparations in this regard,” claimed Rizvi.
Besides, the BNP leader said that all of their party’s district units are going to replicate the programme on the same day at the same time to highlight the issue of human rights violations in Bangladesh.
Read: Picketers from BNP leader Rizvi’s rally against polls schedule throw brick chips at vehicles
He warned if the government tries to create obstacles in holding the programme, their party's leaders and workers will have no choice but to put up resistance.
Rizvi said they want to observe the programme successfully as a symbol of protest against injustice.
He called upon the leaders and activists of BNP at all levels and the family members of those who were subjected to enforced disappearance and political and extrajudicial killings to spontaneously take part in the human chains across the country, including in Dhaka.
He thanked opposition leaders and workers for observing their 48-hour blocked programme that ended at 6am on Friday to realise their demand for holding the 12th parliamentary election under a nonparty caretaker government.
Read: Govt inviting danger for RMG sector only to retain power: Rizvi
BNP observed blockades in 10 phases and hartals in three phases since the party’s October 28 grand rally at Nayapaltan in the capital was foiled by police.
Rizvi said humanity and human rights have no value to the ‘authoritarian’ Awami League government.
“The Awami government has now turned into a despotic regime to retain power…They want the country’s people to forget the truth and they want to remove the truth from the society. They're also trying to eliminate justice from the country,” he said
The BNP leader also said the government has created a situation where speaking the truth and talking about human rights or a peaceful inclusive election are considered the greatest crimes.
Read: AL govt to be ousted through mass uprising like Ershad : Rizvi
He said the government is trying to suppress the opposition leaders and activists, as well as civil society in general, by resorting to brutal repression, creating an awful situation in the country.
Rizvi claimed that the police have arrested more than 215 BNP leaders and activists in the last 24 hours of 5pm on Friday.
He also said till now some 20,490 leaders and activists of their party have been arrested or detained, since October 28.