BNP senior leader Dr AZM Zahid Hossain on Wednesday said Prof Muhammad Yunus’ recent remark about reopening Awami League activities ‘anytime’ has raised questions in the public mind, stressing that it is only the people, not any individual, who can forgive a party involved in mass killings.
“I have had some opportunity to read or watch the interview given by the Chief Adviser to Mehedi Hasan… the responses of the Chief Adviser to the question (about AL’s ban) have created a kind of question mark in the minds of people, including mine,” he said.
Talking to reporters after attending a programme at the Jatiya Press Club, the BNP leader said his party believes that under no circumstances should those who committed genocide and crimes against humanity, carried out enforced disappearances, killed people indiscriminately, or looted people’s wealth and took it abroad, be left unpunished.
He said BNP has always been vocal against the culture of impunity, repression, enforced disappearances, encounters, and the extreme vindictiveness shown by the Awami regime.
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Zahid, a BNP Standing Committee member, said their party also considers the Awami League as mass enemies and believes the party should be tried for all its misdeeds and atrocities.
“They (AL) must unconditionally apologise to the people, and it is up to the people to decide whether to forgive or not. I don’t think this is something anyone can do personally,” he observed.
In Bangladeshi media, Zahid said, reports showed that the Awami League was banned, although BNP clearly stated that whether to accept or reject the ban is a matter for the people and under no circumstances should it be decided through legal, court, or government processes. “BNP has always opposed such a process and stressed that the decision must be made by the people.”
“We always say that those who committed genocide and those who gave the orders must be brought under the law and properly tried—whether it is the former Prime Minister, senior leaders of her party, other party members involved, or over-enthusiastic government officials … people from various forces and organisations, and the administration and judiciary… Some have even gone one step ahead and acted beyond their jurisdiction. So, BNP has always been vocal about their trial and continues to be so,” he said.
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When asked whether BNP will be scared if the Awami League is allowed to participate in the election and their ban lifted at any time, Zahid said BNP and the pro-democracy forces have formed a unity that would never be intimidated by fear.
He said if Sheikh Hasina had truly been a politician, she would have faced politics on the ground instead of fleeing to India.
The BNP leader said autocratic ruler HM Ershad was imprisoned in 1990 after his fall during a popular uprising. “So, as a politician, she (Hasina) has revealed the weaknesses of a wrongdoer… We, who have struggled for democracy, are not at all afraid or intimidated… the people will make the right decision.”
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In a recent interview with Zeteo journalist Mehdi Hasan, Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus said the Awami League's activities are suspended for the time being and ‘anytime it will be open’.
Dr Zahid earlier addressed a discussion organised by the Azhar-Shafik Foundation at the Jatiya Press Club, marking the International Day of Older Persons.