Tk 85cr spent for Hefajat long march: Hanif

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif

Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif

More than Tk 85 crore was spent for the April 6 long march and post-march rally of Hefajat-e Islam, Awami League joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said on Tuesday.

A massive plan of anarchy was hatched by the mastermind and main opposition leader Khaleda Zia was also behind the plan, the AL leader claimed while addressing an anti-hartal rally in the capital’s Karwan Bazar area.

Quoting a national daily, the AL leader said Tk 85 crore was spent in the recent long march, rally and subsequent programme of Hefajat.

Of the amount, Hefajat gave Tk 45 crore while the other parties provided the rest of the money.

The national daily has published a list of those who provided the money, he added.

The money was shared among different parties at the office of a Bangla newspaper, he added.

The editor of the Bangla daily also took Tk 4 crore from this amount, he further claimed.

Such an action by an editor of a national daily ‘hangs our heads in shame’, he said.

Hefajat’s intended programme involved not only long march and rally, but also a mission to kill war crime suspect BNP leader Abdul Aleem along with 50 madrasa students.

They also planned to torch the holy Quran and a number of madrasas throughout the country, he said.

He claimed that the opposition leader Khaleda Zia was one of the key conspirators of the programme.

“You are a two-time elected prime minister of the country. As a former prime minister, you have responsibilities towards your countrymen. You are still the opposition leader in the government,” he said.

“How could you be a part of this heinous act? The people of the country demands answers from you. Are you became so desperate to occupy the office?” asked the AL leader.

Terming BNP’s 36-hour countrywide shutdown irrational, he said, “The opposition party is trying to create anarchy throughout the country to go back to power.”

Hanif also claimed that the number of vehicles plying on the roads show that people of the country has refused opposition-called shutdown.

“As an opposition party, BNP has the right to call hartal. And the people of the country have the right to defy their hartal as well.

“But you don’t have any right to torch cars and explode bombs in the country, disrupting public life,” he said.

“You have indulged yourself in a conspiracy against the government by writing defamatory column on ‘The Washington Post’, by killing over a hundred people using Jamaat-Shibir forces and by instigating the army.

“Your latest ploy was to unleash the Hefajat men. But the people of the country came to know the conspiracy,” he said.

People of the country refused to support her in the last election. They will do so in the next election as well. It is time to put a stop to her conspiracies, the AL leaded added.

Source: TRhe Daily Star