BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had lied in the parliament and mocked the Shapla Chattar incident.
“The prime minister lied in the parliament. She ridiculed the Shapla Chattar incident of May 5. She offered mockeries instead of apologies for the brutal attack. This is regrettable,” he said at a discussion at the National Press Club.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday, in parliament, asked the opposition not to misguide the people of the country by propagating the false information that there was a mass killing of Hefazat men during the Shapla Chattar operation on May 5 night.
She also alleged that the opposition was spreading propaganda by putting up pictures of Rwanda earthquake victims. “If 1,000 to 2,500 people were killed on that night where are the bodies?” she asked.
BNP has been claiming that thousands of people were killed during the May 5 night operation to evict the Islamist group’s rally from Shapla Chattar in Motijheel.
Fakhrul said the opposition’s demand to hold the next elections under a non-partisan government would not be bypassed by any means.
“We witnessed Bhola and Brahmanbaria by-polls during this government. Local elections cannot be compared with national elections. There is no alternative to holding the next elections under a non-partisan interim government,” he said.
“We want to say to the prime minister, do no waste your time anymore. Reinstate the caretaker government provision for the welfare of the people and create a level playing field so that everyone can play equally,” Fakhrul said.
Replying to the prime minister’s comment that if an unconstitutional government comes to power in the name of caretaker government, they will not leave the office, Fakhrul said, “You legalised the unconstitutional government saying it was the outcome of your movement and that you will legalise all its actions when you assume the office.”
Describing a gloomy picture of the country, the BNP spokesperson said, “Dark is so intensified that light cannot enter into the tunnel. People are being victims of the state. People are frightened right now.”