‘Shahbagh a ploy to cover up govt failure’

BNP’s Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Wednesday alleged that the government had ‘set up’ the Ganajagaran Mancha at Shahbagh ‘to cover up’ its failure over the past four years.

“They (govt) have taken up innovative attempts to cover up… They are creating confusion by setting up the Ganajagaran Mancha,” he said.

The BNP leader was speaking at a programme in Gazipur.

Dhaka’s Shahbagh protests erupted on Feb 5, hours after the International Crimes Tribunal-2 pronounced life in prison for Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretarty General Abdul Quader Molla. Later it spread to the rest of Bangladesh.

However, Mirza Fakhrul said he wanted the highest penalty for the accused, ensuring world class legal procedures.

“BNP’s position regarding war crimes trials is clear… Of course we want highest punishment for them (war criminals) through trials conducted in a transparent manner and following international standards.”

“The UN says trials are not conducted in that manner… War crimes experts are also saying the same,” he said while referring to the ‘Skype conversation’ controversy.

The BNP leader alleged that youths started the Shahbagh protests because they did not like the verdict on Jamaat-e-Islami Assistant Secretary General Abdul Quader Molla. “Now their relations with government are so much (close)… it is now that of love.”

“They (government) formed the ICT… it was their laws… their own selected prosecution… verdict delivered by judges of their own choice… now we question, Shahbagh’s new generation’s protests against who?”

Mirza Fakhrul cited a report published in ‘Times of India’ saying, “The newspaper says the Shahbagh protest is being backed by India. Our question is – the Bangladeshi people will stage a movement and do politics with their own fates, so why will a foreign country want to assist there? – we have to understand this.”

The BNP leader strongly condemned the alleged ‘derogatory comments made in blogs on Prophet Muhammad’ saying, “The majority of the faithful Muslims of the country have come down to the streets in protest against this and the government’s police force are shooting at them and killing them. So far 30 ‘people of faith’ have been killed. The government is intentionally pushing the country towards danger and conflict.”

He expressed dissatisfaction at the government for not taking measures against the ‘bloggers’ who according to him ‘hurt religious sentiments’.

“The government could not secure any promise that it had made to the people of the nation. They have become isolated from the people. They know they will lose badly if the next election is conducted under a caretaker government. So they have taken measures to conduct the election under a partisan government by throwing out the caretaker government provision”, said the BNP acting Secretary General.

He asked the leaders at the district level to organise programmes in upazilas and villages for raising awareness on the necessity and demand for a caretaker government.bdnews24.com

Leave a Reply