AL using illegal arms to oppress opposition: Tariqul

BNP standing committee member Tariqul Islam addresses a human chain in front of the National Press Club in the capital on Saturday. 

BNP standing committee member Tariqul Islam on Saturday accused the ruling Awami League of using ‘illegal weapons’ to suppress the opposition.

“Who possesses arms? They (Awami League) own all illegal weapons. They’ve not only killed Bishwajit but also three of our (BNP) activists during our road blockade on December 9 using the weapons,” he said while addressing a human chain in front of the National Press Club.

The people of Thakurgaon district living in Dhaka organised the human chain demanding withdrawal of the ‘false’ case filed against BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and his unconditional release.

On December 10, plainclothes police arrested Fakhrul in front of BNP’s Nayapaltan central office in a case filed against him and 250 other opposition activists for allegedly damaging a vehicle of a Dhaka city corporation during the 18-party’s blockade programme.

BNP leaders Shamsuzzaman Dudu and Abdus Salam, among others, addressed the programme.

In his address, Tariqul held the government responsible for the killing of Bishwajit Das, and said people allover the world watched how brutally the ruling party men hacked the boy to death.

He alleged that Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir is confusing people with false information about Bishwajit’s killing.

Apprehending that there will be a violent outburst of the pent-up anger of people very soon, the BNP leader said, “Time is not far away when people will impose a curfew against the government, and lay siege to the houses and personal vehicles of the ministers and MPs.”

Shrugging off the Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam’s allegation that both BNP and its main ally Jamaat-e-Islami are collecting unauthorised firearms to foil the ongoing war crimes trial, the former minister said the country’s people are the weapons for BNP while guns, sticks and machetes are Awami League’s power.

On Friday, talking to reporters after placing a wreath at the Rayerbazar mass grave in the capital commemorating the martyred intellectuals, LGRD and Cooperatives Minster Syed Ashraful Islam said, “We’ve heard that they (BNP and Jamaat) are preparing, collecting weapons. They would not hesitate to use the weapons, if necessary, to foil the war crimes trials. They’re getting ready for a mass killing.”

Source: The Daily Star