BNP men broke the three-month lock to enter their Nayapaltan office Saturday evening as the tight security around the place was almost fully relaxed.
Around 10-20 BNP leaders and activists including some minor office bearers cut the lock around 7pm and entered the office which they had not been able to do since January 3.
Insiders said party chief Khaleda Zia might go to the office today if she attends a scheduled appearance before a Dhaka court.
The party has been urging the government to open the office over the last months but that call has never been heeded. Recently, a BNP delegation met the chief election commissioner and urged the Election Commission to unlock the office.
Last evening, the BNP men could be seen cleaning thick layers of dust that have deposited on furniture during the last three months that the office had been kept under lock and key. They were also seen clearing small mounds of papers and documents.
Asadul Karim Sahin, assistant office secretary of the party, was accompanied to the office by around 50 supporters.
The office had remained unattended since plainclothesmen picked up BNP’s Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvy from there and drove out the 4-5 office staff on January 3.
It came two days before the BNP and its partners were going to observe the anniversary of the January 5, 2014 elections, terming it “democracy killing day.”
Law enforcers, including female security personnel, have since been maintaining a right cordon in front of the office. No BNP leader or activist has been reported to have tried to enter the office after that.
BNP supporters wanted to gather in front of the Nayapaltan office – one of the party’s top venues for political programmes – for the funeral prayer of Khaleda’s youngest son Arafat Rahman Koko in January, but they could not.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
