Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called upon the BNP to practice democratic process, saying the party can go to power only under a democratic process, not over the cadavers of innocent people.
She said: “The BNP was in power and they have dream to go to power again. But they cannot go to power over the burned bodied of bus and truck drivers, children and innocent people. They must go under a democratic process.”
The premier was addressing the officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs during her visit to the ministry at Bangladesh Secretariat on Sunday.
She came to the ministry as part of her plan to visit every ministry to exchange views with the senior officials and give directives to them to bring dynamism in the activities of the ministry, reported BSS.
Sheikh Hasina reiterated that Khaleda Zia made political mistake by taking decision to boycott the January 5, 2014 general election.
"Why the countrymen will pay for her wrong decision," she asked hoping that the Almighty would help Khaleda Zia to unfold her good sense to refrain her from destructive policy.
Minister for Religious Affairs M Motiur Rahman and secretary of the ministry Dr Chowdhury Md. Babul Hassan also spoke on the occasion while senior officials of the ministry and Prime Minister Office were present.
The PM said everything was going on under a systematic order. “But Begum Zia along with Jamaat is enforcing siege and blockade programmes at the same time out of their intention to multiply the public sufferings.”
So far, 60 people have been killed and more than 300 people sustained injuries during the ongoing non-stop nationwide blockade enforced by the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
Of those, a large number of arson attacks are being conducted on highways. Hundreds of vehicles, including those belonging to law-enforcers, were burnt and attacked.
For most of the day, the BNP-led 20-party alliance enforced blockade and hartal had little impact on the lives of the people on its 34th day, aside from a few stray incidents of violence across the country.
Law enforcers continued a crackdown on alleged anarchists in different parts of the country. In the capital, city dwellers experienced traffic jams on the roads, a sign of relative normalcy.
Crowds of people were seen on the streets attending to their daily tasks.
The BNP led 20-party alliance has been enforcing a non-stop nationwide blockade since January 5 in protest against the “confinement” of the party chief Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda Zia had been kept confined to her Gulshan party office since January 3 ahead of a party rally, marking “Democracy Killing Day.”
On January 12, the security was relaxed.
But Khaleda never came out; instead she said in a press conference that she was going to stay there and the blockade would continue unless the government took the first steps towards solution.