The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday warned the government of dire consequences if party chairperson Khaleda Zia’s life fell at risk for lack of proper treatment.
‘We would like to make it clear that if there is any threat to the life of our leader Khaleda Zia, the people of this country will never forgive this government,’ BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a rally in Dhaka.
As part of the party’s countrywide programme, the BNP’s Dhaka south and north city units held the rally in front of the party’s Naya Paltan central office for allowing Khaleda to go abroad for advanced treatment.
The BNP leader said the people were not so stupid that they would fail to understand that the government sent its main opponent Khaleda Zia to jail to remove her from politics.
Fakhrul alleged that the government pushed the former prime minister near death by deliberately keeping her incarcerated in an uninhabitable room in jail.
Fakhrul said that when the medical board said that Khaleda’s life was at risk, the government said that there was no scope to send her abroad.
He said that the Awami League now became a fascist organisation with bureaucrats and law enforcers indulging in repression and some businesspeople indulging in plunder.
The BNP leader said that the Awami League was not satisfied by convicting Khaleda on false charges, as it was now jailing and arresting BNP leaders involved in waging street movement.
He protested against a lower court verdict sentencing 15 BNP leaders and activists, including its vice-chairman and former lawmaker Md Shahjahan and chairperson’s adviser Habibur Rahman Habib, in a ‘false’ sabotage case filed eight years back.
He warned that it would not be possible to resist opposition leaders and activists by jailing and repressing them.
‘They thought that the BNP would no longer exist after jailing our leader Khaleda Zia. But the BNP has become stronger and woke up to ensure the government’s fall through a mass movement,’ Fakhrul said.
He said that the government already sentenced many BNP leaders, including standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and Dhaka North City unit party convener Amanullah Aman, to keep them out of politics ahead of the national election.
‘We will not stop until the regime is ousted and we’ll definitely defeat this regime,’ he added.
He said that the people were going through serious ordeals due to hikes in prices of daily essentials while inflation kept growing amid dollar crisis.
The way the reserves are decreasing, there will be no more money to import goods after a few days, he said.
‘Don’t forget history. No one could run the country in this way,’ he said.
The party will also observe a token hunger strike across the country, including in Dhaka, on September 14 to mount pressure on the government to let Khaleda go abroad.
