BNP has demanded an immediate investigation by a high level expert committee into the Narayanganj mosque blast.
Secretary general of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, made this demand while addressing a press conference on Monday at the political office of the party’s chairperson in Gulshan of the capital city.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam said, “The people are not clear as to whether this blast was caused by electricity or gas or air-conditioning, or whether there was any sabotage involved. The matter needs to be immediately investigated by a high level expert inquiry committee.”
The BNP secretary general said that many misleading statements were being made about the mosque blast. “Whether the mosque was legal or illegal is not the issue now,” he said, adding that the questions were, how did the blast occur and what type of blast was this?
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “We had always intended to take part in the elections. It was just because of COVID-19 that we moved away from the last two by-polls (Jashore and Bogura). We will contest in local elections, including the upazila polls. Accordingly, we will join the by-elections of Dhaka-5, Dhaka-18 and Sirajganj-1.”
He said that the nomination forms would be sold from 10 September and the party’s parliamentary board would hold interviews on 12 September to finalise the candidates.
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the killing of retired army major Sinha was very deep rooted. He said, “Several issues have come to the forefront. It is clear that this was an extrajudicial killing. Who gave the police the authority? We are not aware that the police can simply shoot and kill anyone in a matter of seconds. Secondly, has the killing been given indemnity? We don’t know if the police has such indemnity where they can shoot anyone dead.”
This is a reflection of the overall law and order situation in the country. Anyone can enter anyone’s home and attack them. The law enforcement agencies are not accountable to anyone
The BNP secretary general said that the major Sinha killing has brought these issues to the limelight. But these incidents have been taking place for many years, ever since Awami League came to power in 2008. He said many such killings took place in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and all those were political.
“But none of these came to surface,” he added, saying, “We spoke out, held human chains, and come before the media and the nation with the victims’ families.”
He called for a halt to extrajudicial killings and immediate action against those involved in such killings.
Attack on the UNO
Referring to the recent attack on a UNO in Ghoraghat of Dinajpur, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that the UNO was struggling for her life. “RAB held a press conference and dismissed it as a robbery attempt,” he said, adding “This is a reflection of the overall law and order situation in the country. Anyone can enter anyone’s home and attack them. The law enforcement agencies are not accountable to anyone and so they can call a press conference and say this incident was just a robbery. The entire matter has been diverted.”
