Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said BNP is free to hold meetings and processions, but her government will take stern action if the opposition resorts to arson attacks and killings in the name of anti-government movement.

“We have no objection to your movement. But we will not spare a single person if there is any incident of arson attacks, burning people alive and hurling grenades on the innocents,” she said in issuing a warning to BNP.

The prime minister said this while addressing the sixth triennial national council of Mahila Awami League, an associate body of the ruling Awami League, at the historic Suhrawardy Udyan.

Hasina, who is the president of AL, attended the opening session as the chief guest.

The prime minister’s warning came as BNP has launched a campaign of divisional rallies to demand that the AL government steps down to pave the way for forming a neutral caretaker administration for holding the next general election. The opposition party is also highlighting the sky-rocketing prices of the essential commodities.

The next national election is not due until January 2023.

PM Hasina lambasted BNP-Jamaat regime for unleashing a rein of torture and repression across the country after it came to power in 2001.  

“They came down on the womenfolk. There was not a single place in Bangladesh where their torture and oppression was not done,” she told the conference.