Opposition BNP on Wednesday accused the government of misguiding
people through its dialogue ‘game’ to frustrate the ongoing movement
for arranging the national election under a non-party regime. “The government is trying to create a confusion among leaders and activists
of the 18-party through false statements and baseless propaganda about
dialogue,” said BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
Addressing a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office about
the second day of the 18-party’s countrywide blockade, the BNP leader
urged the media people to contact BNP about any information in this
regard instead of resorting to rumours. “We want to clearly state
that the government won’t be able to frustrate our movement by
spreading false propaganda,” he added. The BNP leader claimed that
the mass people have waged a strong movement across the country to
foil the government’s plan to hold a unilateral election. “The
movement now has turned decisive one despite the government’s
repressive acts.” The government is not considering the views and
demands of the country’s mass people, eminent citizens, civil society
members and knowledgeable people as it got desperate to hang onto
power, he observed. Mentioning that the country is now under
‘whimcracy’ instead of democracy, Rizvi said the Election Commission
is playing a role of puppet in implementing the ‘whimcracy’. “We
think the current Election Commission has pushed the country towards
instability and violence through announcing the schedule for a
one-sided election. The announcement of the schedule without a
political understanding has sparked massive protests allover the
country,” he said. The BNP leader also alleged that the Chief
Election Commissioner has declared a war against the country’s people
despite knowing its consequence. Rizvi claimed that five opposition
men were killed in firings and attacks by the law enforcers and ruling
party cadres during the second day of the 18-party’s 48-hour blockade.
Besides, he said, police arrested over 400 opposition activists
across the country during the hartal hours, while more than 1,200 were
injured in attacks by law enforcers and ‘ruling party cadres’. Over
5,000 opposition men were implicated in fresh ‘false’ cases, he
further claimed. Rizvi also announced to extend the 48-hour
countrywide blockade to 6:00pm on Thursday protesting what he said
killings of the opposition activists and repression on them during the
two-day blockade programme. On Sunday, the BNP-led 18-party alliance
enforced a 48-hour rail-road-waterway blockade from 6am on Monday,
protesting the announcement of the election schedule by Chief Election
Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad announced for the national
election. Rejecting the election schedule, the BNP-led 18-party
demanded that the election schedule be suspended until there is a
political consensus over the polls-time government. – UNB
