Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addresses a news briefing at the party’s central office at Naya Paltan in Dhaka on Monday.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said that they were ‘shocked’ by the speech of President Abdul Hamid in parliament for it had ‘no mention of absence of democracy’ in the country.
The president on Sunday delivered the speech in the first parliament session of the new calendar year urging all to expedite the nation’s democratic process and socio-economic development.
Addressing a news briefing in the party’s central office in Dhaka, Fakhrul said, ‘It is very unfortunate that the president is implementing Awami League’s partisan objectives.’
‘We are shocked that the president cannot play his proper role for the interest of the state when it is necessary,› Fakhrul said.
‘BNP has not found any reflection of development and consolidation of democracy in the works of the president,’ he said, adding that they were shocked for not finding any mention of ongoing repressions on people and snatching away peoples’ democratic rights in the country.
He made the remarks while replying to a question about the president’s call in parliament to all to expedite the democratic process and socio-economic development to repay the debt of millions of martyrs of the country’s Liberation War.
At the briefing, BNP announced a seven-day celebration on the occasion of 82nd birth anniversary of Ziaur Rahman, founder of BNP, on January 19.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi said that the party’s chairperson Khaleda Zia with party leaders and activists would pay tribute to the memory of Zia by placing wreaths and offering prayers at his graveside at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar in the capital at 10:00am on January 19. The party flag would be hoisted at all its offices across the country on the day.
BNP would organise a discussion at Institution of Engineers›, Bangladesh in Dhaka on January 18.
When asked about BNP’s mayoral candidate in the upcoming Dhaka North by-election, BNP secretary general Fakhrul said that the party would contest the poll, but the candidate was yet to be finalised.
He said that in the past 10 years, over 78,000 political cases were filed against more than 7,38,000 leaders and activists across the country.
About 744 leaders and activists of BNP were subjected to enforced disappearances or killed, Fakhrul added.
Source: New Age.
