Reshuffle of OCs, UNOs an absolute farce: Rizvi

Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary general of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has described the entire electoral process, including the election commission’s (EC) recent initiative to reshuffle officers-in-charge (OCs) and upazila nirbahi officers (UNOs), as a farce.

“The EC’s decision is just a reshuffle among the UNOs and OCs who are Awami League sympathisers,” he alleged in a virtual press briefing on Sunday.

The BNP leader also said discussions on breaching code of conduct in a domestic election of Awami League is tantamount to mocking the people.

Noting the arbitrary arrests of BNP men, searches in their residences, and lawsuits against them, Rizvi asked what kind of reshuffle the EC has carried out in such an environment. In addition to the BNP men, all general voters are going through a panic.

Many journalists came under attack on the eventful day of 28 October, the day of a mass rally of the party in Dhaka.

In this regard, Rizvi said the government is shedding crocodile tears for the attacks on journalists. But many newspersons have been murdered, attacked, tortured, and sued under the incumbent government.

Throughout the last one and a half decade, many journalists, including the Sagar-Runi couple, have been subjected to murder and imprisonment, he alleged.