BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Saturday alleged that a plot has been hatched to make Bangladesh a 'subservient’ state.

"Those who killed Ziaur Rahman on May 30, 1971 were the enemies of Bangladesh's independence and the people of Bangladesh…they’re now conspiring to turn Bangladesh into a subservient state,” he said.

He made the allegation at a virtual discussion meeting on Saturday, marking BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s 40th death anniversary.

Fakhrul said Awami League tried to eliminate BNP through repressive acts, but they have failed to do so as BNP does politics for the country and its people.

He said their party has been on a movement to ‘restore’ the rights of people and democracy for over a decade. “We’ve to continue our struggle to reach the desired goal. Let’s all unite to free our motherland from the grasp of autocracy and establish a truly democratic liberal Bangladesh. ”

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The BNP leader also said the government has imprisoned their party chief Khaleda Zia as she was carrying out a movement to protect the country, its people and ‘restore’ democracy.

He said the government is not allowing seriously sick Khaleda to go abroad so that she cannot stand by the country’s people by recovering from her illness with advanced treatment.

Describing late President Ziaur Rahman as a 'short-lived patriotic statesman', Fakhrul recalled the BNP founder’s contributions to the country’s Liberation War and its development.

BNP is set to observe the 40th death anniversary of former President Ziaur Rahman across the country on Sunday with different programmes.

Ziaur Rahman who founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in 1978 was assassinated by a group of disgruntled army officers at Chittagong Circuit House on 30 May 1981.