Main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday vowed to move ahead defying what it said the intensified repression by the government to subdue its opponents ahead of the next parliamentary polls that are scheduled for the end of 2023 or early 2024.
‘The unelected Awami League government has long been resorting to repression, killing, enforced disappearance and unleashing terror to hang on to the power,’ Fakhrul said while talking to reporters beside the grave of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman after he and party leaders and activists paid homage to Zia by placing a wreath at his grave to mark his 41st death anniversary.
The BNP, he said, has been observing for some days that the Awami League is again creating a reign of terror in the old style as the election is approaching.
‘They have attacked our Chhatra Dal and our leaders and activists and their houses in different districts. We have taken a vow today that no terror and repressive acts can suppress us,’ Fakhrul added.
He said that BNP would overcome all the hurdles and repressions together with the people and oust the current regime from power in a democratic manner.
The BNP will establish a government and parliament of the people through a credible and impartial election under a neutral government. He further said.
Zia, who founded the BNP in 1978, was assassinated by a group of disgruntled army officers at the erstwhile Chittagong circuit house on May 30, 1981.
Talking about remarks of AL leaders that the BNP is trying to create anarchy in the country ahead of the launch of the Padma Bridge, Fakhrul said that the leaders of that party are now making such comments to confuse people and divert their attention in a different direction.
People of the country, he remarked, have started taking to the streets and shedding their blood for the restoration of democracy.
He said that the late president Zia had restored the lost democracy by bringing an end to the one-party rule and introduced a multi-party democracy in Bangladesh through the ‘civil-military uprising’ on November 7, 1975.
Besides, on the occasion, the BNP and its front organisations distributed foods to poor people in different places, including party’s Naya Paltan central office, on the day.
