Having failed to get permission from Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) authorities for the third consecutive time, BNP has finally postponed its rally, scheduled to be held at Suhrawardy Udyan in the city.
Party senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi came up with the party decision at an emergency press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office on Wednesday afternoon.
“Police have resorted to tricks over giving us permission. It’s now clear that they wouldn’t allow us to hold the rally. Denying permission to a major political party like BNP to hold its rally is the manifestation of the government’s autocratic attitude,” he said.
The BNP leader said a German-based institution’s report that Bangladesh is now under an autocratic rule is now justified as the government barred BNP from holding the rally at the Suhrawardy Udyan.
Under the circumstances, the BNP leader said, “We’ve suspended our March-29 scheduled rally.”
Asked the reason behind the suspension of the programme, he said as police did not give them permission as of 4pm today (Wednesday), it will not be possible for them to arrange the programme.
On March 2, BNP announced to hold a rally at Suhrawardy Udyan on March 11, demanding the release of its chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia from jail. The DMP authorities, however, informed BNP that they could not permit the party to hold its rally on security grounds.
As the party was denied permission by law enforcers, it rescheduled the rally for March 19.
Having failed to get permission for the second time for holding the event, BNP announced to arrange the rally on March 29 at the same venue and sought fresh permission from the authorities concerned.
A three-member BNP delegation, led by its standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, also met Home Minister Asaduzzamn Khan on Tuesday requesting him to allow them to hold the rally.
However, the home minister said the law enforcers will decide it based on their intelligence reports.
“We’d a belief that the government would allow us to hold the rally after our three-member delegation met the home minister. But, they denied us permission,” Rizvi bemoaned.
Mentioning that holding a rally is the democratic right of a political parry, he said the government mocked with BNP’s such right.
Rizvi said their planned rally at Rajshahi city will be held on April 15 instead of April 4 for unavoidable reasons.
