Dhaka, (Samajweekly) Bangladesh’s opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, announcing the plans to oust Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has said that the party could seize power rather than participating in polls, and even made threats against the minority community.
He made the remarks in front of their central office in Naya Paltan area of Dhaka on Wednesday evening
Alamgir also said that the BNP is waiting to grab power in the final victory, led by party’s acting leader Tarique Rehman, in another programme organised by the Ziaur Rahman Foundation .
“Fight on the streets… we’re ready to face it…,” Alamgir chanted to hundreds of people vowing to upstage the Hasina led government.
“After Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Hindu community, on October 28 (the day of Laxmi Puja), we will gather at the capital and will wage our movement, none can stop us,” he said.
The rally ended with the slogan “Take Back Bangladesh”, indicating the intent of grabbing power without election and introduced by Tarique Rahman, from London. Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, has been convicted in a number of cases including money laundering and colluding with ULFA and Lashkar-e-Taiba militants, smuggling in arms and ammunition and the grenade attack to assassinate Hasina colluding with militants, to “punish India”.
The minority community leaders and political observers said, this is an open threat, evoking grim memories of a wave of attacks by the BNP-Jamaat men unleashed in the past.
Amid a series of these chilling threats, BNP leaders seem determined on a “sinister plot” to carry out large-scale violent attacks to derail the electoral process as Tareq announced.
Several thousand Jamaat-e-Islami activists, alongside members of a number of outlawed radical outfits, have already rushed into the capital from the grassroot area, a police official, seeking anonymity, told IANS.
He said that those hooligans are staying mainly on hotels and messes particularly in Uttara area to avoid detection of law enforcers and had ties with militants like Ruhul Kuddus Taulkder Dulu, Khairul Kabir Khokon, Abul Khaiyer Bhuiya, Sahabuddin Sabu, Shahid Uddin Anny assigned to oversee the operation, as per intelligence reports.
In recent times, Tarique Rahman’s threats spark concerns from minority community leaders and human rights activists who found the call a clear indication of resorting to violence instead of fighting the battle of ballots.
