The BNP on Thursday alleged that the Election Commission (EC) is going to stage a mockery at the behest of the government in the name of dialogue with the registered political parties involving the next national election.
“A staff of the Election Commission came with a letter (to the BNP office) for a dialogue today (Thursday). What dialogue is it and for whom? What dialogue do they want by jailing our top leaders and forcing others to leave their houses,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Speaking at a virtual press briefing, he also questioned the justification of sending a letter to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir after sending him to jail and keeping the party office cordoned off by law enforcers amid the raids of party leaders’ houses.
“Are you (EC) joking with people in the name of dialogue as eyewash? They (EC) are going to stage this mockery and farce in the name of dialogue as per the directive of the government,” the BNP leader said.
Rizvi also said the EC sent a letter to the BNP office for the dialogue to just make a joke.
“We know what you (EC) will do. There will be no vote. You’ll just announce winners of those whose names’ list will be given from the Prime Minister’s office in the parliamentary election. He (CEC) can’t do anything without this,” he said.
The BNP leader said their Nayapaltan central office remained deserted for 4/5 days as no one, including its staff members, were allowed to enter there.
Read: BNP to enforce fresh 48-hour countrywide blockade from Sunday
“All BNP leaders and workers are living in fear and a vehicle of the crime scene unit has been placed in front of the party office,” he said.
Rizvi said the government tried to brand the BNP as a terrorist organisation by shifting the blame for the violence onto the party, but it has failed to do so.
He also said the law enforcers are raiding the houses of BNP leaders and activists both day and night and arresting the family members if they do not find the BNP leaders.
“A dangerous spree of arrest of BNP leaders and activists is going on across the country. Those arrested are being treated inhumanely. National leaders are being placed on remand, which did not happen even during the colonial period.”
Read: BNP’s Dhaka North Member Secretary Aminul and 3 others detained, says Rizvi
The BNP leader claimed that at least 4,555 BNP leaders and activists were arrested all over the country in 96 cases over the last one week centring the party’s grand rally at Nayapaltan and Sunday's hartal and the three-day blockade programme.
Besides, he said that 3,476 opposition leaders and activists were injured and eight others and a journalist were killed in police actions during the period.
Earlier on Thursday, a staff of the Election Commission (EC) left an invitation letter addressed to BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on a chair at the gate of the party’s central office at Nayapaltan which remains locked following the October 28 foiled rally.
Fakhrul himself is in jail as he was arrested on Sunday and no other BNP leader and activist was found to hand over the letter inviting the BNP to join a dialogue on Saturday to discuss the preparations for the upcoming national polls.
The EC is scheduled to hold a dialogue with the representatives from the registered political parties at 3pm on Saturday to inform them about the commission's preparations for the next parliamentary polls.
In the letter to the BNP secretary general, the EC requested the party to send two of its representatives to the dialogue.
Read: Govt desperate to wipe out opposition with wholesale arrests, repression: BNP
After the party’s grand rally was foiled halfway through on Saturday last at Nayapaltan amid clashes with police, the collapsible gate of the BNP's central office remained closed with the deployment of a huge number of law enforcers in the area.