Different political parties including the main opposition BNP Saturday criticised the government decision of imposing indefinite ban on public gatherings in the city.
The BNP alleged that the DMP had imposed ban on rallies and processions to foil the October 25 rally and also to foil the pro-opposition Peshajibi Parishad’s programme today.
The party also claimed that alienated from the people, the government had been moving forward to stay in power by eliminating the opposition forces and ignoring the mass demand of election under a non-party interim government.
“Such undemocratic decision of the government adds a new chapter of repressing the opposition,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, party’s acting secretary general, said in a press release signed by its Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Condemning the decision, the party spokesperson urged the government to withdraw the decision immediately.
Earlier at a discussion at the National Press Club, Fakhrul accused the Awami League-led Grand Alliance government of snatching people’s democratic rights by imposing the ban.
“The government has imposed ban through police to thwart the mass upsurge so that the opposition cannot wage movement demanding election under a non-partisan government,” he said.
“The situation is like that all the windows of a house are being shutting down. People of the country are in a suffocating situation. It seems like no one can deliver speech or take to the street.”
The BNP leader claimed it had been double standard of the government as it was urging for saving the democracy in the one hand and snatching the people’s democratic rights on the other.
He said the police could not impose the ban if the prime minister was democratic.
Meanwhile, Jamaat also criticised the government decision. Party’s acting secretary general Rafiqul Islam Khan in a statement said the government has been trying to stop peoples’ voice as it had failed to fulfil their demands.
On the other hand, ruling Awami League’s Dhaka City unit would not hold its pre-planned rally on October 25 if the ban until that day. Besides this, the city unit is ready to assist the law enforcement agencies to face any kind of unwanted situation on October 25, said its leaders.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, city unit acting president MA Aziz said they had respect towards the law and “as the Awami League is a democratic organisation, it has postponed the rally showing respect to the DMP decision.”
The city unit announced the rally at an extended meeting on October 10.
Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (Basad) Saturday condemned the government decision, according to UNB.
Addressing a meeting at the CPB headquarters in the city, senior leaders of the left-leaning parties observed that the government had directly interfered in the people’s democratic rights by imposing the ban.
It would further worsen the ongoing political crisis in the country, they added.
They suggested that instead of curbing democratic practices, the government must give a thought to banning Jamaat-Shibir and other communal forces to improve the country’s political situation.
They demanded that the government withdrew the ban before the CPB-Basad rally on October 26 in the capital.
Presided over by CPB President Mujahidul Islam Selim, the meeting was also attended by Basad General Secretary Khalequzzaman, CPB Presidium member Haidar Akbar Khan Rano and Basad Central Committee member Bazlur Rashid Firoz.
