Govt itself is both snake, quack: BNP

Dhaka, Nov 12 (bdnews24.com)—BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said the government, not the opposition chief, has assumed the roles of both the ‘snake’ and the ‘quack’.

His remark came in response to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s criticism of Khaleda Zia on Sunday over the Sept 29-30 attacks on the Buddhists in Cox’s Bazaar.

Accusing her arch political rival of double-dealing, Hasina had said: “The BNP Chairperson bites as snake and then comes to cure as a quack” and asked her to stop hunting with the hound and running with the hare.

Fakhrul, the BNP’s Acting Secretary General, said: “We want to tell the Prime Minister that t is not us but you who are biting the entire country like a snake. Now you’re taking the role of quack by spending money in Ramu.”

Speaking at a public meeting in the city’s Naya Paltan before a procession of the 18-Party, he claimed that the ruling party was destroying the communal harmony ‘wearing the mask of secularism’ and said: “There will be no gains from this. The people of the country have come to know you.”

The BNP leader urged the people to wage a movement against the government with the 18-Party opposition combine.

The meeting was followed by a mass procession, joined by leaders and activists of BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami and other partners of the opposition combine and their associate organisations.

The procession was taken out in protest against ‘the misrule, corruption and public sufferings’. Similar programmes will be organised countrywide.

BNP leaders including Mirza Fakhrul, M K Anwar, Sadeque Hossain Khoka, Fazlur Rahman Patal, Amanullah Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Fazlul Hauqe Milon, Nazimuddin Alam and Abdus Salam led the procession.

Mojibur Rahman, Hamidur Rahma Azad and Nurul Islam Bulbul from Jamaat Islami, Mohammad Ibrahim from Kalyan Party, Shahadat Hossan Selim from Liberal Democratic Party, Khandker Golam Mortuza from NDP, Mustafizur Rahman Iran from Labour Party, Shawkat Hossain Nilu from NPP, Syed Mahbub Hossain from People’s League and Golam Mostafa Bhuiyan from NAP also joined the procession.

Watched closely by law-enforcing agencies, the procession paraded down the streets of Naya Paltan, Kakrail, Shantinagar and Malibagh and ended at Moghbazar, creating severe traffic gridlock in Kakrail, Bijoynagar, Ramura road and Moghbazar streets.

Before the procession, Mirza Fakhrul told the gathering: “There is no security of the people in the country. Incidents of killing and forced disappearance are happening every day. Prices of power, gas and water are often being increased., making the lives of the people miserable.”

He said: “The government has no right to cling to power in such a situation.”

The BNP leader urged the government to quit and facilitate general elections under a non-party administration.

Khoka said the Prime Minister is trying to stage a farcical election. “Her wish will not be fulfilled,” he warned.

Source: Bdnews24