Report in Prothom Alo, 23 Oct 2023
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has no plan to enforce an indefinite sit-in from 28 October, and the party men will return home after the grand rally in Dhaka, clarified the party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Sunday.
“We have asked (the party men) to return to their respective places after the 28 October rally and to wait for the next course of the programme. We will announce no programme that requires them to sit-in,” he told the reporters after a joint meeting at the party headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday.
Earlier, governing Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader told a rally on Monday that if any attempt is made to lay siege to Dhaka, the consequences will be worse than that of Hefazat’s siege at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel (on 5 May 2013).
Asked about the warning, Mirza Fakhrul Islam stated that the BNP is not similar to others, and it is not that easy to uproot the BNP with such an action.
He further said there have been many attempts to uproot the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, but they did not succeed. The BNP could not be suppressed despite such large-scale torture, lawsuits, and killings throughout the last 15 years.
“We have always been saying that the BNP is like a phoenix bird. The people will gain strength as much as you torture, and this is what happening (actually). I can assure you that democracy, the people will win this time,” he insisted.
Mirza Fakhrul alleged that there are efforts to restrict the BNP through different types of comments. They are trying their level best to restrict the BNP, instead, they will find no way to flee. Their time has finished.
Other senior BNP leaders, including joint secretary general Mahbub Uddin, Khairul Kabir, vice chairman Barkat Ullah, were present at the media conference.
https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/politics/j8o91u9nvh
