BNP joint secretary general Salaudin Ahmed on Saturday said the government got unnerved and panicked seeing the intensity of the mass people’s movement.
“Being extremely panicked in the face of the intensity of the mass movement, the government wants to hang onto power by resorting to repressive acts, attacks, killing of opposition leaders and activists and filing cases against them,” he said in a statement.
The BNP leader also demanded the government immediately release the party’s arrested top leaders, including joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Party sources said BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia asked Salauddin to perform as acting BNP office secretary and party spokesman after police arrested party office secretary Ruhul Kabir Rizvi from its Nayapaltan central office in a predawn raid on Saturday.
He, however, did not come to the party headquarters to take it charge apparently in fear of arrest as he was also made accused in the case for torching a bus at Shahbagh in the city on Thursday that left two youths dead and 15 others injured.
Instead of holding a press briefing like other hartal or blockade programmes, Salauddin issued a statement on the first day of the 72-hour blockade through an email.
In the statement, he alleged that ministers of the ‘illegal government’ are creating a smokescreen in the name of dialogue. “A congenial atmosphere must be ensured before the talks by releasing BNP’s all leaders and activists and withdrawing the cases filed against them.”
Mentioning that BNP is not an underground organisation, the former junior minister said if the government wants dialogue, it will have to be held overtly, not covertly. “But the caretaker government must accept in principle the mass demand for a non-party government before initiating the talks.”
The BNP joint secretary general condemned and protested the arrest of Rizvi and central leader Belal Ahamed and the vandalism at the BNP central office. “The vandalism at the central office and the arrest of BNP leaders from it is a heinous incident. It’ll remain as a stigmatised chapter of the history.”
In the statement, Salauddin claimed that two opposition activists were killed in firing and attacks by the law enforcers and ruling party ‘cadres’ during the first day of the 72-hour rail-road-waterway blockade.
Over 300 opposition activists were arrested across the country during the blockade hours, while more than 350 injured in attacks by law enforcers and ‘ruling party cadres, he said..
Besides, over 4,000 opposition men were implicated in fresh ‘false’ cases, he further claimed.
On behalf of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Salauddin expressed gratitude to the countrymen for their spontaneous participation in the blockade programme on its first day.
Source: UNBConnect
