Arrogance can cause further damage to nation
Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Monday said recent remarks by prime minister Sheikh Hasina, that national unity against extremism has already been forged, has ‘frustrated’ and ‘angered’ the nation.
BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, flanked by senior leaders at a news conference in the city, cited party statements as he responded to Sheikh Hasina’s comments that she made on Sunday.
He wondered how forging national unity has been accomplished excluding BNP, which was elected five times to run government and is currently enjoying ‘huge’ popular supports.
He also asked how reaching a national consensus could be possible keeping other patriotic political parties outside the process.
Nazrul said the national unity that the prime minister referred to did not even include all the political parties of the Awami League grand alliance that constituted the incumbent government.
He wondered how Hasina’s 14-party alliance-led by Awami League could bear resemblance to national unity.
The BNP leader said his party’s call for national unity would remain open as he expressed his hopes that the government would one day respond to it to combat terrorism and extremism.
He told a reporter that mere unity of the ruling party allies or unity of the opposition parties is not enough to deal with the menace of ‘terrorism’ and ‘extremism’.
‘It requires unity of all,’ he said.
He told another reporter that the government’s repeated ignorance to BNP’s call is their false arrogance that they can resolve the crisis alone.
He said due to ‘wrong’ political decision by the government terrorism and extremism have now been intensified, leaving security of people and property uncertain and creating chaos in society.
Nazrul said the government out of their greed for power could not fathom the magnitude of the current crisis and that was why they opposed BNP’s proposal.
The BNP leader said the government’s ‘arrogant’ stance could cause further harm to the nation.
He also came down hard on the home minister’s recent statement that the government was privy to information over Gulshan and Sholakia attacks.
‘Why did the minister or the government not take preventive measures? Who will take responsibilities of the brutal killings of so many local and international people?’ asked he.
At least 20 people, including 17 foreigners, were killed in the Gulshan café attack on July 1 and three people including two cops were killed in an attack on a police checkpoint near the country’s biggest Eid-ul Fitr congregation at Sholakia on July 7.
Nazrul said how people could depend on the capability of the government that failed to thwart such terror attacks even after having earlier information.
BNP leaders Abdullah Al Noman, Selima Rahman, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Abul Khair Bhuiyan, and Abdus Salam Azad, among others, were present.
Source: New Age
