BNP will stage a long march towards the Teesta Barrage in Nilphamari on April 22-23 demanding due share of the river water.
BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the programme at a press briefing on Wednesday at the party’s Nayapaltan central office.
The BNP spokesman said they will start the long march from Dhaka on April 22 and hold a rally in Rangpur when their caravan will reach there later in the day.After overnight stay in Rangpur, they will restart their march towards the barrage the following morning.
The long march programme will be concluded after holding a rally in Dalia area near the barrage.
Fakhrul said though a deal was supposed to be signed during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Bangladesh tour in 2011 in a bid to ensure the due share of the river water, the government had failed to ink it.
He said they are arranging the programme to register their protest against the government’s failure to realise the due share of the Teesta water.
The BNP leader hoped that the government will not block their programme as it usually does. “We believe the government will extend its cooperation with us in making the programme a success.”
Replying to a question, Fakhrul said, “Bangladesh’s 3 crore people can be affected due to the government’s appeasing attitude of just maintaining a good relation with India. This is our national problem.”
Besides, he said, the party will hold a meeting at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Kakrail on Thursday demanding that is missing leader Ilias Ali be traced.
Ilias, a former BNP MP from Biswanath of Sylhet, went missing in the capital on April 17, 2012 along with his car driver Ansar Ali.
The BNP spokesman said the government forces picked up Ilias Ali. The same way they also made 22 Dhaka city BNP leaders disappeared. “It’s a crime against humanity,” he added. – UNB
