The main opposition BNP will give its formal reaction today on the death penalty handed down Tuesday to one of its policymakers Salauddin Quader Chowdhury.
The party is likely to stage demonstration today across the country not in protest against the verdict, but to protest what they claimed the leak of the judgement before it was read out in the International Crimes Tribunal, said a party leader.
The six-time MP from a Chittagong constituency was given death sentence in four charges and jail terms in five others. He was acquitted in eight charges while the prosecution did not produce witnesses in six others.
The Chittagong unit BNP called dawn to dusk shutdown in greater Chittagong for today protesting the verdict.
Party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told journalists that the party would brief
the media at 4pm at its Naya Paltan headquarters. The decision came after BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia held a meeting with the senior party colleagues at her Gulshan office.
Party’s Standing Committee members Moudud Ahmed, MK Anwar, Jamiruddin Sircar, Rafiqul Islam Miah and Nazrul Islam Khan, Vice-Chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Osman Farruk were present in the meeting.
Earlier, the BNP did not give any official reaction over the verdicts announced in the cases against leaders of its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
On Tuesday, pro-BNP lawyers of Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum gave its reaction to the judgement. Standing Committee members Moudud and Rafiqul Islam spoke to reporters.
The forum also gave its reaction after Jamaat leader Abul Quader Molla was handed down capital punishment.
Another BNP leader Abdul Alim’s case is now awaiting verdict. Alim was a former minister in gen Ziaur Rahman’s cabinet.
BNP Chittagong city and Rangamati district units called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Chittagong for today protesting the verdict.
BNP will enforce the shutdown (hartal) from 6:00am to 6:00pm in the port city and the district’s 14 upazilas, Sahadat Hossain, general secretary of BNP Chittagong city unit said.
Meanwhile, at least nine vehicles were vandalised and nine others torched in the capital and Chittagong On Tuesday hours into the tribunal announced the verdict.
In Dhaka a covered van was set on fire on Kazi Salauddin Road. The driver of the van was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with burn injuries in his limbs and lower abdomen.
On-duty doctors said he sustained 45% burn injuries and his condition was critical. Witnesses said, unidentified miscreants vandalised at least five vehicles and torched a covered van in Banglabazar area around 2:00pm. Driver of the covered van Nurul Islam, 25, was inside the vehicle when it was set ablaze.
Nurul at DMCH told reporters that a group of around 30-35 people vandalised five vehicles and then set fire to his goods-laden van while he was stuck in a traffic snarl on the way to Armanitola from Tejgaon. A passer-by named Rana took him to the hospital.
