The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday criticised India for recognising the 12th parliamentary elections as free and fair, saying that the neighbouring state opted for a strong democracy for itself but wanted a weak democracy in Bangladesh.
BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi came up with the remarks at a press briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan central office in Dhaka on Friday.
Referring to a statement by foreign minister Hasan, who on Thursday claimed that India had recognised the January 7 election to maintain the continuity of democracy, Rizvi said that the Bangladesh election was recognised worldwide as a ‘staged and fraudulent’ poll that was boycotted by the people.
‘If this election is called a fair one, an election to protect the continuity of democracy, and if India supports it, we have to think India wants a strong democracy in its own country, and it wants plastic democracy in Bangladesh,’ he said.
The BNP leader said that this government could not ensure freedom of expression and protect the independence and sovereignty of the country.
‘Now, in the age of technology, everyone is watching how the mortar shells are coming into Bangladesh and people are dying, but the government is silent. Even it cannot issue a statement against it,’ he said.
Rizvi alleged that opposition party leaders were being tortured and killed in jail.
‘At least 13 leaders and activists of the BNP have died due to torture in prison in the past three months. Every death is a planned murder,’ he said.
‘The news of the deaths of BNP leaders and activists who were victims of cruel torture in custody is coming often,’ added Rizvi.
Rizvi alleged that Monwarul Islam, the assistant organising secretary of Lakshmitari Mohipur union BNP of Gangachara upazila, who was imprisoned in Rangpur jail, died of torture in custody on Thursday.
Monwarul’s family members said that on January 13, the police picked him up from his home and took him to the police station.
‘After that, without sending him to the court, he was detained in the police station until the next night, and he was subjected to inhumane torture in a barbaric manner. That is an extreme violation of the law. He had deep injury marks all over his body, legs, back, and head,’ he said.
‘Police tortured and killed Monwarul without treatment. We demand an international inquiry into every incident of death in prison custody, including that of Monwarul.’
He said that all state machinery, including the judiciary, law enforcement agencies, and administration, were confined under the Awami ‘dummy’ government, and the opposition party leaders were deprived of their constitutional right to get bail.
Despite repeated bail petitions before the court, the BNP leaders’ petitions were rejected, citing various excuses, Rizvi alleged.
New Age