No confusion over 10 Dec rally in Dhaka, says Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said their party will undoubtedly hold a rally on 10 December in Dhaka to intensify the ongoing anti-government movement with fresh programmes.

"No one should have any confusion about the 10 December programme as we must hold the rally on that day in Dhaka," he said.

Speaking at a seminar, the BNP leader also said the country's people will dream afresh to get rid of misrule through this rally.

"People will take to the streets more intensively with new action programmes from this rally to defeat the current monstrous regime," he said.

BNP arranged the seminar titled "Violence and Politics of Blaming" at a city hotel ahead of the party's 10 December rally.

Dr Shakhawat Hossain Sayantha presented the keynote paper at the programme while a documentary on violence during the current government was screened.

Fakhrul said their party wants to establish a government of people by holding a credible national election under a non-party caretaker government.

The BNP leader also said the Awami League government must quit power and dissolve the parliament by handing over power to a caretaker government, paving the way for holding a locally and internationally accepted national election.

Govt plotting to carry out arson violence

Fakhrul said the prime minister staged a drama a few days back by holding a meeting with the victims of arson violence during the movement in 2014-15 and cried there to give people a wrong idea about the politics of blaming.

The BNP leader said the PM's such efforts raised BNP's suspicion about her government's plot to stop the ongoing spontaneous movement of people by carrying out arson violence.

"We have got information from various sources that around 200 buses have been arranged to set on fire. We have also got some hints that some cadres of Chhatra League and Jubo League will be deployed at every ward and thana in the name of preventing violence. We've become alert about it," he said.

The BNP leader said the government is working to indulge in its old game of carrying out violence and blame BNP for those incidents.

High time to resist govt

Fakhrul said it is a proper time to put up a strong resistance against the current regime since people of Bangladesh have woken up. "This is not an elected regime, and it lacks people's mandate. This regime has been carrying out a steamroller of repression and injustice."

He said over 600 BNP leaders and activists were the victims of enforced disappearance and over a thousand were killed while many others were maimed and repressed in various ways over the last 15 years.

"People now want to get rid of the dreadful monstrous regime…we know it's very tough for a democratic force to fight against a fascist regime. But we have to move forward with well-thought-out plans and strategy to carry out such a fight," the BNP leader observed.

He said around 40 lakh opposition leaders and activists up to the village level have been facing "false" political cases.

Fakhrul alleged that the government has siphoned off huge money abroad from the country very consciously, depleting the banks and indulging in looting from mega projects.

He said though the country's economy is suffering, the government is saying there is no economic crisis only to mislead people and thus prolong its power. 

Fakhrul said they are carrying out the movement together with people to restore democracy and the voting rights of people by ousting the current regime.

He called upon people of all walks of life to come forward to protect the county and made it liveable one through necessary reforms after a credible election under a non-party caretaker government.