The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party said on Tuesday that the government had indulged the Rapid Action Battalion by not taking action against it despite the United States imposing sanctions on it over allegations of human rights violations through extrajudicial killings.
‘Why were sanctions imposed on the RAB? These incidents took place while the government of our country, which was not elected by the people, was making illegal orders. The government did not take any action against those officials or the RAB after the sanctions. They [RAB] have been indulged in this, and they continue to kill one after another,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at an iftar party organised by the Jatiyatabadi Krishok Dal in Dhaka.
‘An ordinary woman in Naogaon, who is working at a government office, was picked up and brutally killed. Now they are denying it. None of us were happy, but we felt ashamed as sanctions were imposed on RAB. The image of our country was tarnished by sanctions,’ he said.
He said that the government was dreaming of establishing a one-party Bakshal after suppressing the people of the country for more than a decade.
‘Today, this government, which is not elected, is occupying power by force. False cases were filed against 35 lakh BNP activists, more than 600 activists have disappeared, and many activists have been killed extrajudicially,’ he said.
He said that now the people of the country are united against the Awami League government.
‘We have called upon all political parties to unite. In the meantime, the political parties are simultaneously agitating with us. We believe that through the united movement of the people, this monstrous government, the fascist government, will fall,’ he added.
So far, 17 leaders and activists have lost their lives by taking part in the movement that we have started, he said, adding that the movement of opposition for rice and clothes, the movement for food, the movement for rights, the movement for survival, and the movement for the right to vote will continue.
Chaired by Krishak Dal president Hasan Zafir Tuhin and moderated by its general secretary Shahidul Islam Babul, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, Nagrik Oikya president Mahamudur Rahman Manna, and BNP vice-chairman Abdullah Al Noman spoke in the programme among others.
