BNP on Wednesday alleged that its leaders and workers have been implicated in cases filed over recent communal violence as part of a government’s blueprint to clear the field ahead of the next national election.
“After any incident, the government always files cases against BNP leaders and activists without examining the fact with a motive to suppress and eliminate its opponents. The same way now BNP leaders and activists are being implicated in the case filed over the attacks on puja mandaps,” he said.
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Speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, the BNP leader also said the government is trying to protect the real offenders by arresting the opposition activists over the communal violence.
"The main purpose of filing these cases is to harass BNP leaders and activists, keep them out of politics and remove them from the field before the upcoming election. We think Awami League has been doing this all the time to survive in politics,” he observed.
Fakhrul said 60 cases have so far been filed against 15,096 people over the recent communal violence.
He said police arrested 146 people in these cases and all of them belong to the BNP. “But you, the media workers, know that the ruling party has direct patronage behind every incident. They (govt) are dividing the nation and destroying the communal harmony only to gain their narrow political gains and cling to power.”
Stating that their party’s high-profile probe team, led by Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, already visited different violence-affected areas, the BNP leader said no one of their party leaders and activists, including Barkatullah Bulu have any involvement with any communal incident.
He alleged that a false case was filed against Barkatullah Bulu over the communal violence in Noakhali by taking the deposition of a Jubo Dal activist under section 164 forcefully through torture. “We think it’s a false attempt to harass BNP leaders and workers, including Barkatullah Bulu and Kamakhya Chandra Das.”
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Fakhrul urged the government to immediately withdraw all the cases filed against BNP leaders and activists and release all those who have been arrested.
He demanded that the real perpetrators be brought to justice and punished through a fair and impartial investigation.
The BNP leader said their party always believes in communal harmony and equal rights of believers of all religions.
Fakhrul said the government has been working from now on to clear the election field as they did before the 2018 national election.
Read: Arrest warrants issued against BNP leaders Rizvi, Dulu
He said the government filed hundreds of ‘false and fictitious’ cases against BNP leaders and activists in every constituency just before the 11th parliamentary election. “They also arrested our active leaders and workers, including some candidates, and thus stuffed ballots the night before the voting by clearing the field.”
The BNP leader said the government has started filing cases against BNP men this time much earlier as it wants to dispose of those as soon as possible. “Especially, the trial of the cases filed against us earlier will be completed soon. The Home Ministry has already enlisted the cases that need to be settled quickly so that our leaders could not join the election,”
Fakhrul said their party now is not thinking about the election as their main focus is on ensuring the fall of the Awami League government. “The current government must go, and then the election will be held under a neutral government and election commission.”