The government has been planning to destroy the BNP by preparing false charge sheets against its leaders and activists, party spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said.
“After 2008, the government has filed a huge number of cases against BNP leaders with a view to keeping the BNP away from election,” Fakhrul, the acting secretary general of the party, said yesterday.
He made the remark after placing a wreath at party founder Ziaur Rahman’s grave in the capital on the occasion of the 25th founding anniversary of pro-BNP doctors’ organisation DAB.
Detective police on Tuesday pressed charges against 41 BNP leaders, including Fakhrul, Moudud Ahmed and Mirza Abbas, in connection with a bomb explosion, assaulting police and torching vehicles last year.
One of the charge sheets accuses the politicians of attacking police and vandalism during a protest on March 2 last year and the other charges under the Explosives Act.
In March 2013, during BNP’s movement for election under caretaker government, a procession of the party went berserk in the capital’s Mouchak, Malibagh and Shantinagar areas.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, a Comilla court sent the general secretary of BNP’s Muradnagar upazila unit and 80 other party activists to jail. Police filed three cases against the BNP leaders and activists for vandalism during the party’s movement on November 13-14 last year.
Fakhrul also alleged that the government had taken many strategies to repress opposition parties and their views.
“False cases were filed against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman. Standing Committee Member Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain was detained without any reason although he secured bail from the High Court,” he said.
Bashing the new broadcast policy, Fakhrul said the cabinet approved it in order to gag people’s views and snatch their freedom of speech.
Asked about the party’s ongoing movement, he said movement was a continuous process. “We are waging a movement to ensure people’s voting rights. We are in the movement and we will be in the movement.”
Fakhrul said movement programmes would be finalised soon after holding meetings of the party’s Standing Committee and with the alliance partners.
Insiders said the Standing Committee meeting is likely to be held on August 10 and the BNP-led 20-party alliance partners may sit in a meeting the next day.
