Bangladesh Nationalist Party leaders and professionals on Saturday urged the BNP leaders and activists to wage a strong peaceful movement against government attempt to hold election sending the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to jail. At a discussion at Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh auditorium organised by BNP to mark the 8th anniversary day of Khaleda’s release from detention, they also called for strengthening BNP through reorganising the party in a democratic process. Khaleda was arrested and detained on September 3, 2007 and released on September 11, 2008 during the military-backed interim regime. Addressing the discussion, former Dhaka University vice-chancellor Emajuddin Ahamed said that trials of Khaleda were being held in every week and it had a meaning. He said that the government realised that it would be a great risk to hold election keeping Khaleda in the race. Indicating the probability of Khaleda’s conviction and sentence, he said that if the situation went to that level there would be no need to attack anybody and set fire on vehicle. A peaceful strong movement has to be waged across the country, he added. He said that BNP needed to be reorganised through a democratic process electing leaders of 75 organisational districts of the party. Emajuddin came down hard on the government for imposing value added tax on tuition fees at private universities and other institutions. Ganashathaya Kendra founder Zafrullah Chowdhury stressed the need for strengthening BNP and exercise of democracy in the party. He asked whether BNP had decided who would be the party chairperson if Khaleda was jailed. He also came down hard on hiding BNP leaders including standing committee member Mirza Abbas. He alleged that RAW was involved in taking BNP joint secretary general Salah Uddin Ahmed to Shillong. BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy said that it was enough for democracy if the party followed democracy. He blamed the party’s former ministers and lawmakers for making committee with their people depriving activists of their right to elect leaders. Presiding over the discussion, BNP vice-chairman Shah Moazzem Hossain said that prime minister Sheikh Hasina should reply to people and suffer consequences for misdeeds and misrule of her government including plundering public money and repression of women by her ‘golden boys.’ He said that it should take vow this day to forge movement under the leadership of Khaleda to restore democracy. Economist Mahbub Ullah, former Jahangirnagar University vice-chancellor Khandaker Mustahidur Rahman, Dhaka University teacher Tajmeri S Islam and BNP leaders Shamsuzzman Dudu, Zainul Abedin, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, Asaduzzaman Ripon, Syed Moazzem Hossian Alal and Shamimur Rahman Shamim, among others, addressed the discussion.
Source: New Age
