BNP has criticised the government for affiliating them with al-Qaeda and said such attempts are baseless and politically motivated.
“BNP never encourages terrorism,” BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said during a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters in the capital on Monday.
“Our party is strongly against terrorism,” he added. “The al-Qaeda issue has been raised to divert the flow of international opinion.”
Fakhrul slammed Awami League lawmakers Matia Chowdhury and Sheikh Selim for their comments regarding the BNP's affiliation with al-Qaeda.
On Sunday at the parliament, Matia claimed that al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri met BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh three times.
“We ask them, why hasn't her government taken any steps in this regard,” Fakhrul said. “And why did Matia Chowdhury keep this information secret for such a long time?”
“Sheikh Selim said one must side with the Awami League to stand against militancy,” Fakhrul said. “This is intended for the United States.”
The government is trying to rope-in the US in their favour by using the recent issue of the “al-Qaeda audio clip,” he speculated to the media.
An audio clip has been circulating the internet and was noticed by the media on Saturday. The clip was claimed to have been released by al-Qaeda.
In the message, Zawahiri called upon all Islamists in Bangladesh to resist any efforts against Islam.
