Slamming the government for the arrest of Mahmudur Rahman, acting editor of the Daily Amar Desh, BNP standing committee member MK Anwar on Friday demanded his release immediately. “The days of the government started numbering with the arrest of Mahmudur”, he said while addressing a sit-in programme in front of the National Press Club.
Swadesh Mancha, a platform of pro-BNP men, arranged the programme demanding the release of arrested leaders and workers of 18-party alliance, including BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Terming Mahmudur as a fearless journalist, MK Anwar said: “He was arrested as he did not care about threat by the government”.
Coming down hard on the ruling party, he said: “The ruling party men are criminals who never believed in democracy”.
Issuing a note of warning, Anwar said “If anything unwanted happens to Mahmudur Rahman, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be responsible for it”.
Mentioning that a total of 20 journalists were killed during the tenure of the present government, the bureaucrat-turned politician said that his party, if voted to power, will hold the trial of all the killings.
Accusing the government of suppressing the opposition leaders and workers, the BNP leader said his party men along with people will build up a resistance against the government’s misdeeds.
With Mancha president Mamunur Rashid in the chair, the programme was addressed, among others, by BNP leaders Khairul Kabir Khokon and Helen Zerin Khan. UNB
