Gunfight spree aimed at killing opposition activists: BNP

Logo of BNP
Logo of BNP

The Awami League government has aimed to detain and kill opposition leaders and activists on the plea of cracking down on drug traders, the BNP said on Tuesday.

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi cited the killing of a leader of BNP’s student wing Chhatra Dal, Amzad Hossain, in Netrokona in an alleged gunfight early Tuesday, alongside murder of nine others.

“The government’s target is to create panic ahead of the next general elections… This (killing in gunfight) is a new scheme to intimidate the people,” the BNP leader said at a press briefing at the party’s Naya Paltan central office.

Maintaining that the BNP is against drug abuse, Rizvi insisted that the ‘criminals’ should be brought to justice and given the highest punishment as per law.

“But killing people in the name of gunfight is not act of civilised society,” he said.

The BNP leader also questioned the status of those who are being caught and killed. “It’s the small fry, not the godfathers who are caught,” he added.

Rizvi alleged that drugs have grabbed the entire society during the nine-year rule of the Awami League regime. “Influential persons like ruling party MP Badi (Abdur Rahman Badi from Cox’s Bazar) are the big fishes in the drug world, who made millions of taka through drug trade…Some high-level officials of the police are also involved in the drug trade, as reported,” Rizvi went on to say.

“Drugs are being smuggled into Bangladesh through different channels and why couldn’t the government stop this? Why are you not bringing godfathers to book?”

The BNP leader pointed out that the law enforcement officials who were engaged in extra-judicial killing were being assigned to create an atmosphere of fear through more killings.

The BNP, he said, demands a complete halt to any kind of extrajudicial killing.

Rizvi further alleged that the police personnel were harrassing the BNP leaders and activists even during the month of Ramadan.

He mentioned that the detective police went to raid the Banani residence of disappeared BNP leader Ilias Ali, minutes before Sehhi (pre-dawn meal for fasting).

Rizvi condemned blanket police actions targetting the opposition leaders and activists.