Police attacks on BNP, govt high-handedness unacceptable
THE police attacks on the leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the largest in the opposition camp, who gathered in front of the party’s central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka in the afternoon on December 7 that left a Swechchhasebak Dal activist dead and more than a hundred wounded, some seriously, are shocking. But what remains disappointing about the police attacks is that the government appears adamant about not allowing the party to hold the rally that it has planned for December 10 in Dhaka, the one that is meant to round off the party’s series of 10 divisional rallies. The police said, and still say, that they would not allow the party to hold rallies on the roads, especially because it would hamper traffic. All this translates into double standards on part of the government as the ruling Awami League has earlier held political programmes and the police have blocked roads to ordinary traffic and have, rather, facilitated the vehicular movement of Awami League leaders and activists so that they could reach the venues without hassles. The incident at hand is also disappointing on grounds that the police, who attacked the gathering of BNP leaders and activists on the road, have themselves blocked the road stretch since the attacks.
In addition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party has earlier held rallies and other political programmes on the road by the party’s central office. The party is reported to have held at least 11 programmes, big or small, on the road by the party office in September–November, where thousands of leaders and activists of the party and its fronts gathered. Why can the Bangladesh Nationalist Party not hold such a programme at the place in a peaceful manner now? All this suggests that the concern of the government was not to keep the roads free to traffic but to stop the Bangladesh Nationalist Party from holding the rally there. What is further worrying is that the Awami League and the government, as is manifest in provocative statements of a few ministers, have used the state force to further their political agenda, as evident in the way the police attacked the BNP leaders and activists. The police, as ranking BNP leaders say, in a countrywide crackdown arrested 1,400 BNP leaders and activists in November 30–December 6 to create a fearful situation. Besides, the police, who stormed into the party office on December 7 and attacked leaders and activists, have taken control of the party office since then. They say that they have found crude bombs and explosives in the BNP office while BNP leaders say that the police have planted them there. The law requires the police to make the seizure list in the presence of the owner of the house and have it signed by the owner. Nothing of this sort has so far been reported, which calls into question the police claims. The police even stopped the party’s secretary general from entering the office.
The double standards of the Awami League and the government, the use of police against the opposition and the ploys used to stop the Bangladesh Nationalist Party from holding the rally are, therefore, unacceptable.
Courtesy New Age
