BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Tuesday alleged that around 300 members of opposition 19-party alliance have either been killed or made to disappear in last one month, accusing the government of turning the law enforcement agencies into “killer forces.”
Addressing a crowded press conference at a city hotel, the former premier presented a list of the victims, which was prepared on the basis of data collected by her party’s central office. Of the victims, Khaleda said, 242 were killed by the law enforcers and the ruling party cadres while 60 others were victims of enforced disappearances from December 26 to January 27.“The state’s law enforcement agencies have been turned into killer forces destroying their moral strength through politicisation and using them for narrow political purposes,” she observed. She alleged that intelligence agencies are being used as weapons to repress the democratic politics and to annihilate the opposition parties at dictates from outside force.
She said the government is using the border guards to suppress its political opponents keeping the border unguarded. According the list provided by Khaleda, around 27 people were killed in Satkhira 23 in Chandpur, 20 in Laxmipur, 17 in Cox’sbazar, 15 in Chittagong, 14 in Sirajganj, 13 in Chapainawabganj, 13 in Chapainawabganj, 11 in Noakhali, nine in Feni, seven each in Pabna and Meherpur, six each in Nilphamari, Gaibandha and Lalmonirhat, five each in Dinajpur and Bogra, four each in Thakurgaon, Kushtia, Jessore, Khulna and Comilla, three in Natore, two each in Noagaon, Rangpur, Kurigram, Rajshahi and Chuadanga and one each in Jhenidah, Magura, Bagherhat, Patuakhali, Pirojepur, Kishoreganj and Munshiganj.
Khaleda also said that 21 people were subjected to enforced disappearances in Dhaka city, 11 in Gaibandha, nine in Nilphamari, six in Satkhira, three each in Sylhet and Chittagong, two each in Jhenidah, Comilla and Laxmipur and one in Khulna. The BNP chief observed that though the list prepared by her party office on the basis of information they got, the actual picture is more alarming and dreadful.
She criticised the government for what she said the worsening human rights situation, extrajudicial killing, oppression and repression by law enforcers and ruling party ‘cadres’. “The government has indulged in wholesale arrest and killing of the 19-party men.” In support of her statement, Khaleda referred to different reports of the local and international human rights bodies and media outlets on the killings and disappearances of the opposition leaders and activists.
The BNP chairperson demanded the government immediately stops extrajudicial killings and repression on opposition leaders and activists filing ‘false’ cases. She also called for independent inquiry into the killings and demanded withdrawal of false cases against the 19-party men.
The former premier urged the United Nations and all other international rights bodies to take initiatives to ensure human rights and the rule of law in Bangladesh and stop terrorism and repressive acts. Claiming that her government had formed the elite force Rab to combat militancy and serious crimes. “But, the popular force has been made a symbol of horror by destroying its goodwill.”
Khaleda alleged that an autocratic illegal government and one-party government has been imposed on the country’s people through the January 5 farcical election. “The government in the name of protecting the constitution has grabbed the state power and snatched people’s voting rights through holding a mockery in the name of polls,” she said.
The BNP chief also said that the January 5 polls has proved how justified has been their demand for holding the general election under a non-party government. Khaleda said people gave the ruling party a good lesson by boycotting the 10th parliamentary polls as she added the turnout was not even 5 percent.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members Dr RA Gani, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman, Jamiruddin Sircar, Sarwari Rahman, MK Anwar, Hannan Shah, Rafiqul Islam Miah, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, vice-chairmen Abdullah Al Noman, Selima Rahman, chairperson’s advisers, Inam Ahmed Chowdhury, Osman Farroque, and Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury, Jatiya Party (Zafar) chairman Kazi Zafar Ahmed, BJP chairman Andaleev Rahman Partha, Jagpa chairman Shafiul Alam Pradhan and Kallayan party chairman Syed Mohammad Ibrahim were, among others, present. – UNB
