The BNP has announced its decision not to hold its rally in Dhaka on December 10 at Suhrawardy Udyan.
The decision came at a virtual meeting of the party on Monday, BNP leaders told Bangla Tribune on Tuesday.
The government has told the BNP to hold its rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, but the party is adamant about holding it at Naya Paltan instead.
Several leaders of the BNP said the party was suspicious of the government's move because its request to hold rallies on the historic ground had generally been rejected in the past.
“We appealed many times in the past to hold rallies at Suhrawardy Udyan, but were given permission to hold them at Naya Paltan. Now we always have meetings at Naya Paltan. What has suddenly changed that we are being allowed [to hold a rally at] Suhrawardy Udyan? [We] suspect there is a sinister motive behind it,” Standing Committee Member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) on Tuesday permitted the BNP to hold its rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on 26 conditions.
When asked about the matter, an official at the BNP chairperson's office said: “This is the first time the police have sent us a permission letter to our central office with due respect, which is highly suspicious.”
BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed meanwhile said the police were searching the homes of party leaders and activists in the capital ahead of the December 10 rally.
The rally, aimed at restoring democracy in the country, would be held in the public interest, he added.
