Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam yesterday urged all pro-liberation forces not to respond to the opposition’s March for Democracy programme on Sunday and to build up all-out resistance against them.
“National flags do not match in the hands of those who refrained from giving statement against the resolution taken by Pakistan parliament and remained silent when Jamaat’s Pakistan chapter calls for attacking Bangladesh,” he said in a statement.
Opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Tuesday declared the march towards Dhaka with national flags to resist the “lopsided polls” slated for January 5. The announcement came an hour after the end of 18-party alliance’s 83-hour countrywide blockade.
Criticising Khaleda, Ashraf said: “We have achieved independence in this month with the sacrifice of 30 lakh lives. And, in this month of victory, the collaborators of Pakistani occupation forces, killers, razakars, al-Badr and al-Shams have engaged in fresh conspiracies to humiliate the national flag.”
Also the LGRD minister, he said the anti-liberation forces wanted to dishonour the national flag and this is why, they had torn national flags and vandalised Shaheed Minars after the hanging of war criminal Abdul Quader Molla.
The ruling Awami League leaders and activists would stay alert on the Dhaka streets on Sunday to protest against the activities of the BNP and its allies.
The city unit has already declared a two-day flag procession beginning tomorrow when they will announce another programme. Bangladesh Chhatra League, students’ front of the Awami League, declared a three-day demonstration programme in the capital.
Meanwhile, several other senior leaders of the Awami League yesterday also called for resisting Sunday’s programme.
“We will resist the March for Democracy and nothing will go unchallenged,” General Secretary of Dhaka city unit Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya told the Dhaka Tribune. The opposition alliance would not be allowed to carry out any sabotage in the capital.
Presidium member Mohammad Nasim said: “You [Khaleda Zia] have declared the programme to create chaos but you will not be allowed to do so. On December 29, we will stay on the streets for the security of the people.
“We are the ruling party, and we alongside the law enforcement agencies have the duty to save people’s lives and property.”
He said Khaleda would be allowed to hold programmes after the January 5 polls, “not now.”
A former home minister, Nasim also urged the transport workers and drivers not to operate buses on Sunday since a number of drivers and helpers had been killed in the recent blockades enforced by the opposition.
State Minister for Law Quamrul Islam said the BNP’s central leaders would have to take the responsibility if any sabotage takes place during the programme.
Environment and Forest Minister Hasan Mahmud said: “The BNP will create anarchy and we will see sitting idle it can never happen.”
At a programme in the capital, he also called on the party activists to identify “outsiders” in the capital and hand them over to the law enforcement agencies.
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader said it was not the right time to hold programmes like “March for Democracy” ahead of the general election.
“Violence cannot be a political programme. Who will ensure that violence will not take place?”