Although the BNP held the January 20 rally at Suhrawardy Udyan in the city under its own banner and dropping the Jamaat and three other Islamic parties, the party now thinks to observe the January 29 tomorrow black flag procession under the banner of newly expanded 19-party alliance. Sources said that some BNP leaders want to observe the January 29 programme without Jamaat, Islami Oikya Jote, Khelafat Majlis and Jamiate Ulama-e-Islam, but BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and some others believe that they need the Islamic parties in intensifying the anti-government movement. “The 18-party alliance has already turned into 19-party alliance and we are therefore planning to hold the programme under the new banner, said a BNP leader. Jamaat central leader Dr Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said that they hope that the January 29 programme will be held under the 19-party banner. Echoing the same, chairman of Bangladesh Labour Party Dr Mostafizur Rahman Iran said that Khaleda Zia had announced the programme as a programme of the alliance. If the government does not obstruct, the programme will be observed under the 19-party alliance, he said. The absence of Jamaat and other Islamic parties from the January 20 rally sparked a manner that the BNP was going to cut ties with the parties. BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir later made it clear that they won’t cut ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami. “Jamaat was with the BNP and will be with them in future.”Khaleda Zia on January 15 announced the black flag procession across the country on January 29, the first day of the parliament session, in protest against holding the January-5 ‘one-sided’ polls and demanding a fresh mid-term poll soon. To make the programme a success, BNP held a joint meeting at its central office at Nayapaltan in the city on Monday. Mirza Fakhrul presided over the meeting. After the meeting, he addressed a press conference blaming the state machinery for having a role in what he termed ‘continuing extra-judicial killings of opposition activists’. Referring to Monday’s ‘gunfight’ between Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal activists and members of joint forces in Satkhira, which left an upazila-level leader of the JCD killed, Mirza Fakhrul said no one is safe in the country. He claimed that many people had become the victims of the extra-judicial killings.The BNP leader urged the media to bring the fact before the nation. He also urged the countrymen to make the January 29 programme a success. He asked the government to take steps for dialogue after dissolving the current ‘illegal’ parliament.
