Dhaka – BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on Monday night urged the Election
Commission to postpone the schedule announced for the 10th
parliamentary election and thus save the country.
In a statement, the former premier also urged the government to come
to the path of negotiation shunning the drive of annihilation and
oppressing the opposition. “Discarding the path of conspiracy and
sabotage, restore peace.”
Khaleda further said, “I want to tell the Election Commission, save
the country by postponing the election schedule and not to be used as
a puppet of a particular party by taking initiatives for holding a
unilateral farce election.”
The former premier also requested all concerned not to engage in the
farcical election process, and called on the law enforcers to
neutrally perform their duties. “Don’t take position against people.”
She also urged the country’s people who have been affected and
repressed for the last five years to continue their movement in a
peaceful manner. “People’s justified movement can never fail.
Insh’allah our victory is sure and imminent.”
About arson attacks, Khaleda Zia said unidentified miscreants are
taking the lives of innocent and common people by carrying out heinous
attacks. “They’re burning people alive by hurling bombs and torching
passenger buses. Elderly people, women and children are being victims
of such grievous attacks.”
Mentioning that people are groaning in hospitals with pain of burn
injures, the opposition leader said, “Their tragic screams have
clearly exposed the unforgivable failure of our public security
system. I’m surprised, disappointed, aggrieved and saddened. I
strongly condemn and protest the barbaric and brutal killings.”
Khaleda said she along with the country’s people is stunned over the
horrendous attacks amid the watchful position of the law enforcers at
different points of Dhaka city.
She also said the mystery behind letting off the perpetrators with
safe passage without the arrest of any offender from the spot is not
comprehensible to anyone.
Khaleda asked the all the leaders and activists of the BNP-led
18-party alliance, other democratic parties, and all the professional
and social bodies who are on the movement not to attack any innocent
common people and destroy their property anywhere in the country.
“Our leaders and activists are getting killed everyday in firings by
police, Rab and BGB members on the streets. The country’s
peace-loving innocent people are not our opponents. Our movement is
for saving the country and its people and it’s not for taking their
lives and property,” the BNP chief said in the statement.
Khaleda alleged that the ruling party and the Prime Minister have
started conducting various propaganda capitalising on the heinous acts
to make narrow political gains. “They’re carrying out propaganda
blaming the opposition without any information and documents after
having failed to ensure the security of the common people, resist the
miscreants and arrest any offender from the spot.”
She said the government has openly declared to resort to more brutal
repressive acts over the “false’ plea but it has stopped all the paths
for BNP to respond to that.
Criticising the government for arresting BNP joint secretary Ruhul
Kabir Rizvi, the BNP chief said it reminded the attacks of Pakistani
occupation forces in the month of victory of December the way Rizvi
was arrested after midnight from the BNP headquarters and the office
was vandalised and looted.
Khaleda slammed the government for filing ‘false’ cases without any
proof and said, “It’s clear that the acts of sabotage are being
carried out to file the cases, arrest opposition leaders, suppress
movement and confuse the national international sentiment.”
Referring to the minister’s comments that the arrested opposition
leaders will be freed if any compromise is reached, she said it proves
that the opposition leaders are being arrested in ‘false’ cases. – UNB
