Ruling Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif yesterday said that if the countrymen wanted, the politics of BNP might be declared illegal for carrying out arson attacks and sheltering international terrorist and militant groups.
“BNP’s politics is against the people of the country. It was proved by the arson attacks and terrorist activities carried out in early 2014. BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia led the terrorists of her party and Jamaat-e-Islami to burn ordinary people to death in the name of democratic movement,” Hanif said at a press conference at the party chief’s Dhanmondi office in the capital.
He mentioned that the BNP had already been labelled as a Tier III terrorist organisation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of the US for its destructive politics and connection with terrorist and militants group.
In support of its argument that the BNP is a terrorist organisation, the DHS had submitted 16 exhibits as evidence before a US court during an asylum hearing in December 2014. However, a US embassy spokesperson said that Tier III is an internal DHS mechanism and there is no list for such organisations.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that since the regime of military strongman Ziaur Rahman was declared illegal by the apex court, the party he had founded could also be considered as illegal.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday criticised the premier for her remark. He also claimed that Hasina’s address to the nation on Tuesday, made on completion of her government’s second year in office, had frustrated the nation.
At the press conference yesterday, Hanif questioned the basis of Fakhrul’s statement. “Who has told Mirza Fakhrul that the nation was upset by the premier’s speech? How did he manage to get the countrymen’s opinion in a night? Not the people, it is the BNP who are upset to see the country’s rapid development.”
At another programme, Food Minister Md Qamrul Islam claimed that the BNP would be split into several parts by the current year due to wrong leadership by its chief Khaleda Zia and Senior Vice-President Tarique Rahman.
“Khaleda Zia may be able to save her party and the alliance if she returns to constructive politics,” Qamrul told a discussion at Shilpakala Academy.
Awami League’s Publicity and Publication Secretary Hasan Mahmud asked the BNP to shun the path of falsehood and cooperate with the government to complete the development projects. He said: “The BNP leaders can criticise the government as there is democracy in the country.”
