Senior BNP leader Mirza Abbas has claimed that some leaders of his party were behind the disappearance of former lawmaker from Sylhet Ilias Ali nine years ago.
Without disclosing the names of those leaders, Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas said: “Many are aware of the identities of those people. The Awami League government is not to be blamed for the incident.”
He made the claim while addressing a virtual event of the party on Saturday, reports Bangla Tribune.
BNP organising secretary Ilias Ali and his driver Ansar Ali disappeared from Dhaka’s Banani area in the midnight of April 17, 2012. The party has observed hartals and protests a number of times blaming the Awami League government for the incident.
Mirza Abbas said: “The night before he went missing, Ilias had a heated argument with an individual at the party office. Ilias swore at the individual profusely.”
He said that "those traitors" were still active in the party.
“If you do not expel them, the party will not be able to move forward,” he said addressing BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Addressing the same event, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the incidents of forced disappearances in Bangladesh’s political landscape had begun with Ilias, in an attempt to "weaken the country’s nationalistic forces".