Bangladesh politics: BNP urges government to prove Al Jazeera report false

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party holds a rally in front of the National Press Club as part of the party’s countrywide demonstration marking three years of imprisonment of its chairperson Khaleda Zia.

Senior leaders of opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday said that the party would wage a tough movement for the release of its chairperson Khaleda Zia by reorganising the party soon.

The leaders also apologised to the party chief for their failure to wage a strong movement or take any step for her release from jail over the past three years.

They also urged the government to prove false the report of Doha-based international television channel Al Jazeera aired on February 1 on corruption of Bangladeshi top officials.

They made the comments and demand while addressing a human chain formed by the party’s Dhaka north and south city units in front of the National Press Club as a part of the BNP’s countrywide demonstration marking three years of jailing of Khaleda.

The human chain turned into a big rally as party leaders and activists from different parts of the capital began to arrive at the ground at around 9:00am, about one and a half hours before the beginning of the programme.

As the rally began, the road between Purana Paltan and Kadam Foara became blocked ultimately.

Addressing the rally, BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbus said that the party would start movements soon for the release of ‘detained’ party chairperson Khaleda Zia.

The presence of leaders and activists in the protest rally proved that protests would be greater in future, he said.

‘We should wage tougher movements soon so that Khaleda Zia can be freed and Tarique Rahman can return to the country,’ he said.

He also said that Khaleda would not be in jail forever as their party’s movement would gradually intensify.

‘I humbly apologise to our imprisoned leader Begum Khaleda Zia and acting chairman Tarique Rahman as we are so unfortunate and so unsuccessful that we have not been able to take any step to free them,’ he said.

Referring to the documentary aired by Al Jazeera, Abbus said that the government should prove that the allegations were false.

Another standing committee member Gayeshwar Chabdra Roy urged party leaders and activists to widen democratic movement to restore democracy by freeing Khaleda and bringing Tarique back to the country.

‘For these, we must take control of the streets and we should continue the movements until our demands are fulfilled,’ Gayeshwar added.

He said that Khaleda was under ‘house arrest’ as the government kept her in her Gulshan house instead of custody to avert any untoward incident amid the coronavirus outbreak. ‘Even, Khaleda Zia now cannot meet her brother and sister.’

Gayeshwar said that the actual corruption in the country was 1,000 times higher than what had been reported in the recent Al Jazeer report. ‘The government must prove that the corruptions allegations are false.’

BNP senior joint-secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed fell sick after finishing his speech at the programme.

Chaired by Dhaka City south president Habib Un Nabi Khan Sohel, central leaders of the party Amanullah Aman, Abdus Salam, Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anne and Kazi Abul Basher, among others, spoke at the human chain rally.

The demonstration was held in all the cities and district towns of the country, party leaders said.

Khaleda was jailed for five years by a Dhaka special judge’s court in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8, 2018 and she was sent to erstwhile Dhaka Central Jail in the Old Town of Dhaka.

She was shifted to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital on April 1, 2018 for treatment.

On March 25, 2020, she was released from the prison cell of the BSMMU on executive order on conditions for six months.

The tenure was later extended for another six months.

Khaleda, since her release on March 25, 2020, has been residing at his Gulshan house and has attended no party programme since then.

New Age