The BNP has blamed the government of using so-called gunfights to try and maintain the country’s law and order as the situation has now gone beyond their control.
The party also apprehended that opposition leaders and activists may also become future targets of extrajudicial killings.
“Extrajudicial killings cannot be accepted. We are apprehending that after the deaths of two to four Awami league-Chhatra League activists [in gunfights], opposition leaders will be the [next] victims,” said Asaduzzaman Ripon, international affairs secretary of the BNP.
Addressing a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters yesterday, Ripon said the government wanted to create terror through incidents of crossfire. “We condemn all sorts of crossfire. Criminal activities have increased across the country. Crossfire is not a solution.”
Since it was formed during the tenure of the past BNP government, crime-busting elite force Rapid Action Battalion has regularly been criticised by human rights activists for carrying out alleged extrajudicial killings in the name of crossfire or gunfights.
Claiming that the absence of democracy has created an imbalance in the country, Ripon said: “If the problems stemming from the January 5 election are resolved and the media can enjoy freedom, then crossfires will not be needed and balance will be restored in the country.”
On another note, the BNP leader condemned the expulsion of BNP-backed mayors from various cities, saying that local government bodies were being destroyed through the expulsion of elected mayors.
Ripon further demanded the release of BNP’s arrested leaders and activists including standing committee member MK Anwar and BNP chairperson’s Adviser Shawkat Mahmud.
