Voicing concern over the killings of the country’s citizens along the borders of Myanmar and India, BNP on Wednesday alleged that Bangladesh is now in the jaws of crossfire.

 At a press conference arranged by the party standing committee on the country’s overall situation at its chairperson’s Gulshan office, BNP also alleged that the Awami League is now in power with the support of India, China and Russia by giving these countries various ' illegal economic and geopolitical' privileges'.

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 “On the one hand, our BGB members and our people are being gunned down along India’s border beginning from the West Bengal, on the other two people were killed and several others injured in firing and mortar shells landed from Myanmar side. Troops from Rakhine state are flocking and taking shelter (in our country). In other words, Bangladesh is now in the jaws of crossfire,” said BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy.

 He urged the journalists to think of what is going to happen and the reasons behind the prevailing tension along the Bangladesh border.

 The BNP leader also raised the question of whether tension is being created on the Myanmar border to divert the attention of the people of Bangladesh to a different direction from its various failures and problems. “Whether the government (of Bangladesh) has a secret relationship with those who are causing these incidents...the government earlier created one issue after another to mislead people.”

He hoped that the government would take necessary and visible steps to tackle the border problem if it had no connection with the rising tension along the Myanmar frontier.

The BNP said a country like Myanmar had never dared to fire into Bangladesh’. "Why do they get the courage to do it now? This is what you all need to think about... where is our country heading toward?”

He urged the people to be vocal against the border problem to force the government to take proper initiatives to protect the citizens of the country from the way they are being now attacked from all sides.

 A tense situation has been prevailing along the border between Bandarban's Naikhongchhari Ghumdhum and Tumbru amid fierce fighting, skirmishes and gunfire between the armed forces of the military junta and insurgent groups inside Myanmar for more than a week.

At least 327 Myanmar forces and border guards have so far taken shelter in Bangladesh as of Wednesday noon in the wake of conflicts along the border.

Meanwhile, two people--a Bangladeshi woman and a Rohingya man-- were killed when mortar shells from the Myanmar side landed on a kitchen at Jalpaitli village of Ghumdhum union in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban on Monday.

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At the press conference, Gayeshwar claimed that the current government has become isolated from the democratic world. "Fascist government has got the support of India, China and Russia by providing them with illegal economic and geopolitical benefits to protect its existence.”

 He said their party has promised the country’s people to bring back democracy. "We are in that ongoing movement. The speed of the movement takes shape in different directions at different times.”

The BNP leader said 62 political parties' decision to boycott the 'one-sided' election on January 7 was right and logical as people turned down the election and its results by responding to the call of opposition parties.

He also said the common people lodged a silent protest against the unilateral election by not going to the polling station. “This spontaneous support of people is the manifestation of the success and victory of BNP's politics.”

 Gayeshwar claimed that people’s right to vote was not established through the ‘farcical’ election on January 7. “Rather, it was a violent deception with the nation in the name of elections only to illegally, immorally and unconstitutionally keep the fascist Sheikh Hasina government in power. A dummy election was staged in 2024 with dummy candidates, dummy parties, dummy voters and dummy observers.”

 He also questioned whether there is any political party in the world like BNP which over 50 lakh leaders and workers have been facing false political cases.   

 “Our more than 2,700 leaders and activists were killed by Sheikh Hasina and her loyal law enforcers and nearly 700 innocent people were made disappear. Why did the fascist government arrest more than 25,000 leaders and activists, including BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, in connection with the election of seat sharing?” Gayeshwar said.

 He also claimed that their party’s 11 leaders and workers were killed in prison.

 The BNP leader also said  50 lakh BNP leaders and workers are being deprived of their civic lives while they are being subjected to injustice and repression by police and the judiciary.

He also slammed the government for its failure to check the skyrocketing prices of daily essentials, growing inflation and deteriorating economic situation.

"The country’s 18 crore people want to get rid of the misrule of Sheikh Hasina, who has completely failed to run the state. People also hope that the anti-people and fascist government will be ousted through the movement of BNP,” Gayeshwar observed.

He also said democracy will soon be restored in Bangladesh through a mass upsurge on the streets under the leadership of the BNP with direct participation of the people.

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 BNP standing committee members Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan, and Selima Rahman were, among others, present at the press conference.