BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has again said that no credible election can be held under the Awami League-led government.
“It’ll be wrong to call this government a thief. It’s a regime of robbers. Whatever you see, you’ll only find plundering. They did the same thing in the past,” he said while addressing a biennial council of BNP’s Thakurgaon Sadar Upazila unit on Public Library premises in the district town on Thursday.
The former state minister said that fair and acceptable elections were never held under the Awami League government since the birth of the country, reports UNB.
“The same thing happened during the election under the Awami League government in 1973, said the leader of the BNP, which was widely criticised for holding questionable elections on February 15, 1996 and the Magura by-elections of 1994.
Fakhrul claimed that nine people had been shot dead while 7,500 people implicated in over 700 cases centring the 2014 election.
“They themselves burnt vehicles and election offices during the last general election, but cases were filed against our leaders and workers. Their houses were raided, forcing them to leave their areas,” said Fakhrul, who is accused in a number of cases of hartal violence.
He said that the government could not suppress the BNP leaders and activists by filing “false” cases against them.
The BNP leader said that the people were going through a very tough time due to the misrule of the current regime.
“We used to call Thakurgaon a place of peace. People here love to be at peace. Before 2014, the people of this area did not see (political) cases. But the BNP leaders and activists have endured huge pains and sufferings facing false cases,” Fakhrul claimed.
He also said that many BNP leaders and activists had to hide in paddy fields at night amid bitter cold in fear of getting arrested. “They had to spend nights on trees. They did not forget that sufferings and pangs. Each such incident will be accounted (at a suitable time).”
He again called upon his party colleagues to drum up public support to create a mass upsurge to oust the government.
“We’ve been on a struggle for a long time and we’ve suffered a lot. But we did not give up. We will not give up. We’ll free our leader Khaleda Zia…movement is the only way left for us,” he said.
