Blasting the government for its coercive measures, including mass arrest and harassment, to foil its Sunday’s 8-hour blockade programme, opposition BNP on Saturday vowed to make the programme a success, foiling all obstacles and odds.
“Our leaders and activists are ready to create irresistible blockades on roads across the country from 6am to 2pm tomorrow (Sunday) braving arrest, harassment, repression and cruelties of the government,” BNP office secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi told a press briefing at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.
He said the government has so far arrested over 145 opposition leaders and activists, including 90 in Dhaka, as part of their move to thwart the programme.
Besides, the BNP joint secretary general said, the government is using its different law enforcement agencies, including Rab and police.
He alleged that they raided the houses of many BNP leaders and its associate bodies, including Jubo Dal president Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, joint secretaries Alamgir Hossain, and Mahbubul Islam Swapan and BNP’s student affairs assistant secretary Sultan Salahuddin Tuku, and damaged their valuables and harassed family members.
Rizvi denounced the government’s action and demanded immediate release of those arrested ahead of the blockade.
Mentioning that the government could not foil any programme of the opposition in the past by such repressive acts, he said people will also foil their conspiracies this time too through their spontaneous participation in their programme.
He warned the government that they will announce tougher programmes if it obstructs their today’s peaceful programme.
The BNP Leader also called upon people not to take out their vehicles on the roads during their blockade programme and make it a success to force the government to restore the caretaker system.
