The BNP Friday called Awami League leader Mohammad Nasim’s remark about BNP senior vice-chairman Tarqiue Rahman “irresponsible and propaganda.”
“If the election is held tomorrow, Tarique Rahman will become the prime minister the next day. So think well before you [Nasim] make any comment on him,” Shamsuzzaman Dudu, adviser to the BNP chairperson, told journalists at a press briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan office in the capital.
The government is yet to prove a single allegation brought against Tarique during the army-backed caretaker government, Dudu said.
Tarqiue Rahman's spinal cord was broken by torture after 1/11, he said.
Even Hossain Shahid Suhrawardi, AK Fazlul Huq, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani did not have to suffer such torture, he went on.
AL presidium member Mohammad Nasim on Thursday demanded the government bring back and try Khaleda Zia’s son Tarique Rahman, who has been in London since September 11, 2008 on medical grounds after getting bail in various graft cases.
“There are specific corruption charges against Tarique Rahman and he is a fugitive in the eyes of the law. The government should bring him back and try him,” he told journalists after a meeting of the alliance at AL President Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi office.
Nasim claimed Tarique went abroad after signing a declaration promising to keep out of politics while his parole lasted and despite that “was continuously spreading propaganda against the government.”
He said Tarique was hatching a conspiracy to destroy democracy and oust the elected government.
Tarqiue seems to have stayed away from the political scene since his release on bail in 2008. A total of 14 corruption charges were brought against him. He recently attended a political programme in London for the first time since going abroad.
In the programme, Tarqiue alleged that the government killed scores of people in its action against Hefazat-e-Islam’s "Dhaka siege" on May 6.
He urged his party leaders and activists abroad to draw the attention of foreign politicians to the situation in Bangladesh and also advised them to remain active in pressing the government to heed the BNP’s demand for a caretaker government.
“We want to say clearly, the government is whipping up propaganda against Tarique Rahman. He is our crown and will lead the movement very soon,” Dudu warned.
