BNP: No level-playing field yet in Gazipur, Khulna cities

BNP on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission has yet to create a level-playing field in Gazipur and Khulna city corporations for credible polls on May 15. The party also demanded the immediate withdrawal of Gazipur’s Superintendent of Police (SP) M Harun-or-Rashid to ensure a proper election atmosphere in the city. "The Election Commission has failed to create an atmosphere for the polls," alleged BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters. Though the election campaign has begun, he alleged the ruling Awami League’s goons have been roaming the two cities with weapons. He said the BNP had lodged several complaints with the Election Commission about the violation of the election code of conduct by the two ruling party candidates, but the commission was unlikely to take any action in this regard. Rizvi said Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, Awami League MPs Jahangair Kabir Nanok, Bahauddin Nasim, Ahmed Hossain, Gazipur Zila Parishad Chairman Aktaruzzaman held a meeting at Gazipur's Mouchak on Saturday, and urged people to elect ruling party mayoral candidate Jahangir Alam. “That's a clear violation of the election code of conduct." Besides, the BNP leader claimed the law enforcers were arresting the leaders and activists of 20-party alliance, repressing them, and intimidating them in various ways, including killing them in crossfire, in both Khulna and Gazipur. He said around 45 coalition leaders and activists, including Jamaat-e-Islami’s Gazipur district unit Ameer Prof SM Sanaullah, were arrested over the last two days while campaigning for Gazipur’s BNP mayoral candidate Hasanuddin Sarkar. "Gazipur police is now the name of serious horror. We have been demanding the withdrawal of the Gazipur SP Harun from the beginning, but the home minister is not taking any action in this regard. We again demand the SP’s withdrawal," Rizvi said. He reiterated their party's demand for deployment of army in the two cities one week before the polls. Rizvi also alleged that a “propaganda cell” has been set up at the Prime Minister's Office to carry out “false campaign” against the Zia family on social media. "Various false and fabricated stories are being spread through the Facebook profile of a deputy press secretary of the prime minister," he claimed. About a “false” video containing Khaleda Zia's remarks about her son Tarique Rahman and his wife, Rizvi said it was made by distorting and editing the BNP chairperson's various past speeches on different matters. "It's the practice of uncivilized and foul politics. We strongly condemn and protest it.”