BNP will only participate in the upcoming 11th parliamentary election if its party chairperson is released from prison, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Friday.
The party’s secretary general described the freeing of Khaleda Zia as the “number one condition for taking part in the election,” before adding a number of other conditions.
“The government must (then) step down before the election and the deployment of army will be a must,” Fakhrul said. “The parliament must be dissolved and Election Commission should be reconstituted.”
The BNP leader was addressing a rally in front of the party’s Naya Paltan headquarters in the city. The rally was organized to demand Khaleda’s unconditional release and her better treatment in jail.
“All parties and organizations must unite for democracy, ensuring people’s rights and a free and fair election,” Fakhrul said. “National unity is a must now to get rid of the current government’s misrule.”
Thousands of BNP leaders and activists attended the rally in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters in Dhaka on July 20, 2018 | Rajib Dhar/Dhaka TribuneFakhrul also welcomed the newly-formed alliance of eight leftist parties, and said: “All other parties also need to come together to take the country forward.”
Thousands of leaders and activists of BNP and its affiliate organizations from across Dhaka attended Friday’s program, which stretched from Fakirapool to Kakrail’s Nightingale intersection.
The rally, which started around 3pm and ended two hours later, was held in line with 23 conditions from Dhaka Metropolitan Police and was the first held in the city by BNP since January 5, 2016.
It was also the first mass rally of BNP since Khaleda was sent to jail for five years in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8. She is currently in the old Dhaka central jail serving her time.
The BNP supporters had started gathering at the rally venue from the morning with banners, festoons and placards, while raising slogans on their demands.
Traffic on the roads at Naya Paltan was closed during the program, which led to massive gridlocks on other roads in that area of the capital.
BNP leaders claimed that Friday’s gathering proved that the party still had a large number of leaders and activists and popular support.
‘Awami League doesn’t want inclusive polls’
BNP leaders and activists from across Dhaka at the rally in front of the party's Naya Paltan headquarters in Dhaka on July 20, 2018 | Rajib Dhar/Dhaka TribuneThe BNP secretary general also claimed that the ruling party was against all parties participating in the next national polls.
“Awami League will not even get 20 seats if the next election is held in a free and fair manner with participation from all political parties along with BNP; that’s why they want to hold another January 5 type polls,” he claimed.
Mirza Fakhrul said the government was keeping Khaleda Zia behind bars in a false case and away from politics and the polls, only because it “feared” the BNP chief.
Thanking party leaders and activists for making the rally a success with their spontaneous presence, Fakhrul also urged them to get ready to launch a strong movement to establish a pro-people government ousting the “current autocratic one.”
Addressing the assembled crowd, BNP Standing Committee Member Khandker Mosharraf Hossain said there would be a rally on Saturday for Prime Minister Sheik Hasina which will be organized “using government money.”
“If police had given BNP permission earlier to hold the rally, then ours would have been bigger than Sheikh Hasina’s rally,” he said.
He added: “The general election would not be allowed to be held under the administration run by Sheikh Hasina and Awami League because polls held by them are never fair, and the proof of that are the local government elections.”
Standing Committee Members Moudud Ahmed, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Abdul Moyeen Khan and other senior leaders had attended at the rally, among others.
Security was beefed up in the area, and no disruptive incidents were reported.
The Naya Paltan rally was part of a nationwide demonstration. BNP also organized rallies in other metropolitan cities and district and upazila headquarters across the country on Friday.