Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque on Saturday threatened to wage tougher anti-government protests, apparently taking cue from the political programmes of its key partner Jamaat-e-Islami.
Addressing a human chain protest in front of the National Press Club, he said the BNP was preparing for harsher protests.
The human chain programme was organised seeking release of BNP’s Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, who is currently behind bars. The party says charges against Fakhrul are politically motivated, but the government says he instigated attacks and vandalism during anti-government protests.
Claiming that the government had been unable to stand even against the Jamaat-e-Islami, Farroque said the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would fall apart once they ‘start our movement’.
Jamaat, which is seeking a halt to the ongoing war crimes trial involving its top leaders, has been following violent tactics against the government. Attacks on police by its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir have become frequent incidents in the recent weeks.
Farroque said the government could not tolerate the opposition anymore.
“The government is oppressing opposition leaders and activists through its security agencies. They are doing this to create anarchy in the country,” he said.
Oppression, imprisonment and filing false cases would fail to deter the opposition activists from waging anti-government movement, he said.
Farrouque, an MP from Noakhali-2, said the parliament was being run with a partisan attitude. “They (government) are wasting millions to castigate opposition.”
“We cannot go to a parliament where we cannot speak, where opposition is castigated beyond all limits.”
On Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia’s article published in the Washington Times, Farroque protested ruling coalition MPs’ statement that it was an act of ‘sedition’.
“In the column, Khaleda Zia mirrored the present condition of Bangladesh,” he said.
He urged the government to file cases against former Communication Minister Syed Abul Hossian for sedition, blaming him for withdrawal of the promised World Bank fund for the proposed Padma bridge.bdnews24.com
