The BNP and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami enjoyed al-Qaeda backing for their countrywide violence, says a former Awami League minister.
“The statements of BNP, Jamaat and al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri are similar. The anarchy they unleashed last year points to a global militant network,” said Hasan Mahmud.
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An audio recording of al-Zawahiri , circulating on the Internet, called on Muslims in Bangladesh for an uprising against “the enemies of Islam”.
Al-Zawahiri said Bangladesh had not worked as a nation born more than 40 years ago ‘to protect the independence, glory, honour and freedom of its people’.
Alluding to the snatching of JMB militants from prison van, Mahmud said, “Sunday’s incident proves that the international terror group is active.”
“The country is stable after the polls. The militant outfit is plotting to destabilise it so that the Awami League cannot complete its five-year term,” he said.
“They want to push the country into a kind of anarchy created by al-Qaeda in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Mahmud, the Awami League’s Publicity and Publications Secretary, said it would not be fair to judge popularity of parties only going by the first phase of Upazila elections.
“Let all the phases be completed and we will see who is ahead,” Mahmud said.
He said Awami league candidates were being pulled down by dissidents who were contesting when denied party ticket.
“Put the votes of the party candidate and the rebel candidate together and you will see it is more than votes secured by Opposition,” Mahmud said.
The BNP and Jamaat candidates had won 56 Upazila chairman polls while the Awami League ones bagged 33 in the first phase of the Upazila polls.
Source: Bd news24