Condemning the submission of chargesheet against its leader MA Quayum and six others in the Italian national Cesare Tavella murder case, BNP on Tuesday alleged that it has exposed that the government is ‘protecting militants’. In a statement, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir demanded the government withdraw the chargesheet immediately.
“A case has been filed against Dhaka city unit BNP’s joint convener MA Quayum in connection with Cesare Tavella murder with a political motive. The submission of the chargesheet against seven people, including Quayum, in the case has manifested the government’s motive that it’s protecting militants by shifting blame on BNP,” he said. Dhaka, UNB News Agency Reported.
On September 28 last year, Tavella, an aid worker, was killed at the capital’s Gulshan Diplomatic Zone. Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Masudur Rahman said a chargesheet was submitted to a metropolitan magistrate court on Monday in Tavella murder accusing Quayum and six others.
Protesting the government’s move, Fakhrul said Quayum was implicated in the case only to show that BNP has a link to militancy. He said the government has blamed BNP for all the recent killings, including Tavella’s one, only to protect militants. The BNP leader alleged that the government is making its frantic efforts to link BNP to militancy to divert people’s attention to a different direction from siphoning off crores of taka, plundering of money from Bangladesh Bank other banks, killings, enforced disappearances and secret killings.
Fakhrul said militants are raising their ugly heads as the government is busy suppressing BNP and other opposition parties instead of tackling militancy and extremism. “The government’s failure to identify and arrest the militants has demonstrated that it has connection with the emergence of militancy,” he added.
