Rashed Khan, Political Assistant to the Prime Minister, on Wednesday alleged that National Citizen Party (NCP) Convener Nahid Islam's backing and direct instigation have emboldened the party's chief coordinator, Nasiruddin Patwary, to make uncivil remarks against the Bangladesh Army and the government.
“No one in the history of Bangladesh's politics has been as imprudent as this. Nahid must also bear responsibility for Nasiruddin’s insolence,” Rashed said while speaking at a programme organised by the Ex-Forces Association at the Jatiya Press Club.
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Calling on Nasiruddin to apologise to the army, Rashed said the NCP leader had made objectionable remarks about the army chief keeping a beard. “How dare he show such audacity to comment on a country's general in this manner? He keeps making derogatory remarks about the army. He must apologise to the army.”
Rashed further alleged that Nasiruddin has been using uncivil language against government ministers. “The language in which Nasiruddin addresses the prime minister and ministers is thoroughly objectionable. This cannot be allowed to continue.”
Turning to Nahid Islam, Rashed said the NCP convener now speaks in grandiose terms despite having achieved nothing during his time in the interim government. “He completely failed to implement the Media Reform Commission's recommendations. His successor, another student leader, Mahfuj, also failed in his responsibilities.”
Blaming the interim government’s shortcomings on its youth advisers, Rashed alleged that those who took up advisory posts and appointed their own loyalists remained engrossed in lobbying and influence-peddling throughout the 18-month tenure, which he said led to the government's failure.
Referring to NCP spokesperson Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuiyan, Rashed claimed Asif himself told him on August 7 that Sarjis Alam, NCP's chief organiser for the northern region, and Hasnat Abdullah, chief organiser for the southern region, had betrayed the ideals of the July uprising.
He alleged this was why Asif, who ranked fourth among coordinators, was made an adviser instead of Sarjis and Hasnat, who ranked second and third respectively.
Rashed also accused the NCP of distorting the early history of the July mass uprising, saying the movement had grown out of the quota reform protests.
He claimed that although the July Charter was meant to acknowledge this, NCP had denied the quota reform movement’s role and thereby distorted history.
On Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Rashed alleged the party is conspiring to topple the government instead of cooperating with it. “Even if they manage to bring down the government, they will never be able to run the country. No movement or mass uprising under their leadership will succeed again.”
Referring to Liberal Democratic Party Chairman Oli Ahmad, a Jamaat-led alliance partner, Rashed said the veteran politician has fallen into NCP's trap and is now “talking nonsense” in his old age. “Listening to Oli Ahmad, it seems as though he is speaking in Nasiruddin's voice. His association with NCP has caused this decline.”
On restoring peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Rashed said there is no alternative to the army's presence there, warning that the hill region would again turn unstable if troops were withdrawn.
He called on all to move Bangladesh forward under nationalist ideals, saying differences of opinion could remain but there should be no dispute over Bangladesh itself.