Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, senior joint secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has alleged that his party members are being attacked and falsely implicated in cases due to instigation by the ruling party, reports UNB.
Speaking at a press conference at the party headquarters in the capital on Wednesday, he claimed that over the past six days, a total of 650 BNP members were arrested and several hundred others were injured in various attacks on the party's events across the country.
Rizvi said, “During a rally in front of the Awami League's central office yesterday (on Tuesday), its general secretary, Obaidul Quader, threatened to eliminate the BNP forever in cold blood. Following his threat, the police, Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and SWAT forces initiated a crackdown on BNP members, attacking and arresting them in new cases.”
He further alleged that the police and the Awami League's “special cadres” attacked the opposition's peaceful march in the capital’s Science Lab area without any provocation on Tuesday.
Observing that Obaidul Quader's threat was being carried out by law enforcement agencies, who he claimed embodied the Awami spirit, Rizvi questioned why no legal action had been taken against the Awami League general secretary for his offensive remark.
He said, “Eliminating the BNP in cold blood implies a provocation for engaging in killing. Why are the law enforcement agencies silent? Why is there no case against him?”
Rizvi also accused the government of resorting to the old tactic of blaming the BNP after buses were set on fire, as had happened in the past.
He called on the police force not to take a stance against the people. According to him, more than 30 BNP leaders and activists, including Sheikh Rabiul Islam Robi, Shahadat Hossain Saikat, and Raisul Islam Chandan, were arrested by the police in the Science Lab area after the party's march programme on Tuesday.
Furthermore, Rizvi claimed that the government is intentionally creating anarchy and violence in the country by pitting the police against the people as part of a deep conspiracy to retain power through another rigged election.
He warned that the people of the country will not remain idle if the government continues to attack and obstruct the peaceful programmes of opposition parties using ruling party cadres and the police.
Rizvi showed photos on his mobile phone and alleged that the police themselves burned placards featuring pictures of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, its chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, and acting chairman Tarique Rahman during the attacks on BNP leaders and activists in the Science Lab area.
He strongly condemned the incident, saying, “This incident proves that these police are not the people's police; they have become a force of the Awami League.”