BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Sadeque Hossain Khoka talk to media after their release Tuesday. They were picked up by police from the party’s Nayapaltan office yesterday. Photo: Firoz Ahmed
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said the government will have to pay a high price for Monday’s police action at the party’s headquarters.
“The law enforcers attacked the office and detained leaders and activists without producing any warrant,” Fakhrul said in a press briefing at BNP Nayapaltan central office in the capital around 5:15pm on Tuesday.
He accused the government of striking at the root of the democracy through the attack on the opposition.
Earlier on Monday evening, police raiding the headquarters of the main opposition party picked up over 200 BNP leaders and activists including Fakhrul.
Fakhrul along with former home minister Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and former Dhaka city mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka were released around 1:00pm.
An hour into his release, Fakhrul held a press briefing at BNP head office where he said the opposition would launch a tougher movement if its leaders and activists detained during Monday’s raid are not released immediately.
“We were released in the face of public demonstration,” Fakhrul told reporters during a press briefing at BNP headquarters in Nayapaltan of the capital immediately after his release on Tuesday afternoon.
“We will launch tougher movement if our leaders and activists detained during yesterday’s raid are not released immediately,” the BNP leader warned.
A homemade cocktail was exploded outside the BNP office while the BNP leader was holding the press briefing around 2:00pm.
The three leaders walked out of capital’s DB (Detective Branch of police) office around 1:00pm, Masudur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (media centre) told The Daily Star.
During the press briefing, Fakhrul also demanded immediate withdrawal of ‘false cases’ filed against opposition leaders.
He also strongly condemned Monday’s raid and vandalism at the party office and detention of opposition leaders and activists.
The BNP leader claimed that his party was compelled to suspend its national council slated for March 19 as police took away the documents relating to the council during Monday’s raid.
Fakhrul alleged that recent activities of the government were pushing the country into a chaotic situation.
But the government instead was blaming the opposition for the anarchy, he added.
Police on Monday arrested more than 200 opposition leaders, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul, party Vice-Chairman Altaf and party city unit convener Khoka, during a two and a half hours’ raid at the party’s central office in the capital.
During the raid, police and members of intelligence agencies recovered 12 homemade bombs from the third and fourth floors of the BNP headquarters.
The raid was launched after some homemade bombs had been blasted near a BNP rally in front of its office.
Nearly one hour before the release of the party leaders, Awami League Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif said the top BNP leaders detained during Monday’s raid will be released soon.
“Instruction for releasing the leaders has already been given. So there is no necessity of calling more hartal or launching any movement centering the issue,” Hanif said while talking to reporters at Awami League central office in Bangabandhu Avenue.
He also said that during yesterday’s raid at the BNP office, the law enforcers could have show more tolerance.
Source: The Daily Star
We sincerely sympathize with Mr. Fakhrul; but at the same time humbly ask if they did ever think what AL could do if they could come to power once again? No, they thought they would remain in power perpetually and therefore did not care to shun violence, corruption, goodagiri etc while in power. They declared that AL won’t come back to power in half a century. Did they achieve such a popularity? Even his party did not care to admit their past commissions and omissions and apologize to the voters even a month or week before the last election. Now what’s going on was very much predictable. It’s a pity that they failed to realize that. They are just paying for their myopic and imprudent but arrogant politics. We pray they reassess their past role and honestly feel the pulse of the common people who still have some trust in them.