Setting fire to one or two vehicles in the dead of night does not destabilise the country’s political situation, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said, adding that no “blueprint of conspiracy” to unsettle the country would be implemented.
He made the remarks in parliament today (10 November), replying on a point of order to Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman’s speech, with Deputy Speaker Kayser Kamal in the chair.
The minister was commenting on the crude bomb explosions, processions, vehicle vandalism and arson centred on the blockade called by the Awami League, whose activities are banned.
“Seven crude bombs have exploded across the country. Four people were caught red-handed and handed over to police. If a crude bomb explodes at Dhaka University in the dead of night, it does not mean the law-and-order situation in Bangladesh has deteriorated.
“If somewhere else, at night or before dawn, one or two vehicles – an abandoned bus, say, or one with no driver or helper – are set on fire, the political situation of the country does not become unstable. So, if these one or two symbolic incidents are put together and the law-and-order situation is called extremely dire, I think that is not logical,” he added.
Assuring the nation, the home minister said, “Whether a conspiracy is hatched inside the country, beyond its borders or both together, no conspiracy will succeed here. We are all committed to ensuring that the forces of fascism, which fell in the face of the July Uprising, cannot return. If anyone creates an opportunity for their return, the nation will see it, and we will expose them.”
He also said that plots by “the fallen fascist forces” to destabilise the country had been under way for some time and were now visible.
“Anyone with a minimum understanding of politics can understand their purpose,” he added.
Collaborators of fascism hiding inside the country were trying to become active again, with instigation from people who had fled and taken refuge across the border, the home minister said.
“We have questions about how they are conducting political activities from there and the legal basis for doing so,” he said, adding that he would also disclose who inside the country was involved and who was instigating them.
A blueprint had been drawn up from abroad to create unrest, instability and anarchy in the country’s main export and foreign-currency-earning industrial sector, with heavy investment made behind it inside the country too, the minister said.
The government had foiled the attempt successfully, he added.
“Our law enforcement agencies handled the situation with great patience. Its members were injured themselves. Attempts were also made to provoke law enforcers into causing an incident that the protesting groups and miscreants in the country could then use as an excuse to create disorder.
“We deliberately did not give them that opportunity. Law enforcement agencies did not use excessive force,” the home minister said.
Source: https://www.tbsnews.net/bangladesh/setting-fire-one-or-two-vehicles-does-not-destabilise-political-situation-salahuddin
