Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Thursday alleged that the government has started reshuffling police and public administration to hold another stage-managed election through vote rigging by controlling the state machinery.
Speaking at a discussion, he said that the country’s people would thwart all the ‘blueprints’ of the government through a mass uprising in the days to come.
‘The Awami League have started the process for holding another election as per their will by rigging votes and controlling everything. There’re reports in some newspapers about massive reshuffle and promotion in the police. They’ve also reshuffled the public administration with a motive to arrange everything as per their desire ahead of the next election,’ Fakhrul said.
He recalled that many fascist regimes, including the one of HM Ershad, had done the same in the past, but eventually they had to quit power in the face of public wrath.
‘Awami League also had established Baksal with all such arrangements, but how many days could they stay in power? Pharaoh, Nimrod, and Ershad also tried to hang onto power but failed. When people wake up nothing can resist them,’ the BNP leader observed.
Jatiyatabadi Sangskritik Forum, a pro-BNP platform, arranged the progarmem at Dhaka Reporters, marking the Black Day of Newspapers.
On 16 June 1974, the then Awami League government shut down all the newspapers, except four ones loyal to the government. A group of journalists has long been observing the days as a Black Day commemorating the closure of the newspapers.
Fakhrul said that there was no alternative to intensifying the ongoing movement to oust the current government by creating a strong mass wave.
He said that the current Awami League government had established a one-party Baksal rule under cover of democracy. ‘They have snatched our all rights, including the freedom of expression.’
The BNP leader said that the government had also been regulating media outlets through the Digital Security Act.
He said that the Awami League could not tolerate their opponents. ‘Our struggle has begun and it will not end in a day or two. We must continue our struggle as our opponent is so authoritative that they don’t hesitate to kill people and make them disappear using the state machinery.’
The BNP leader said that the current government must be removed through a strong movement to restore democracy, press freedom, and all the lost rights by establishing a government of people.
He alleged that their party chief Khaleda Zia was jailed unlawfully in ‘false’ cases’ out of political vengeance.
Stating that Khaleda had now been fighting for life at a hospital in the capital, Fakhrul said her family repeatedly submitted applications seeking permission to send her abroad for advanced treatment as per doctors’ advice but the government had not yet paid heed to it.
He also slammed the ruling party leaders for accusing BNP of doing politics over Khaleda’s illness.
‘We don’t have a language to condemn such a remark. We will reply it through a mass upsurge of people,’ he added.
