The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party demanded the immediate repeal of the Digital Security Act, 2018, and the withdrawal of all cases filed under it.
The party made the demand after discussing the issue in its standing committee meeting held virtually on Monday, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a press conference on Tuesday at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.
He said that the party believed the ‘notorious law’ was the main obstruction to the freedom of expression of the people of the country.
The meeting said that the government was taking advantage of this law to snatch the freedom of expression of opposition leaders, activists, journalists, and the general public and using this regressive law as a tool to prolong the ‘fascist regime’.
The meeting also demanded the release of Khadizatul Kubra, a student at Jagannath University who has been suffering from kidney disease and languishing in jail for the past eight months in a DSA case, Fakhrul said.
The meeting also demanded the release of all who are now behind bars in cases filed under the repressive law.
Meanwhile, BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan voiced concern about the Essential Services Bill 2023, which has recently been placed in parliament.
During the meeting, the BNP standing committee members alleged that the government did not take opinions from the stakeholders over the proposed law, and as per the bill, if the government wants, it can bring any industry, establishment, profession, or service under this act and make strikes in these organisations a punishable offence.
Snatching the right to strike in the Essential Services Bill also takes away the right to collective bargaining, he said, adding that this was also a clear violation of the government’s international commitments and a tool to protect the oppression, deprivation, and exploitation of employers by invalidating trade unions and movements.
Fakhrul said that the BNP believed that the proposed law would not only undermine the interests and rights of the working people, but was also against democracy, human rights, and the constitutional right of the people to protest.
He said that BNB strongly demanded the withdrawal of the ‘Essential Services Bill 2023’.
Presided over by BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salah Uddin Ahmed, Selima Rahman, and Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku attended the meeting.
