BNP standing committee member Dr Khandker Mosharraf Hossain on Wednesday alleged that the government is arresting BNP leaders in connection with the attacks on the Hindu community in Nasirnagar, Brahmanbaria to ‘shift the blame’ onto others.
“A union unit BNP president was arrested last night (Tuesday night) over the attacks that took place following a conflict between a minister and a local MP over establishing supremacy in Brahmanbaria only to put the blame on others,” he said while addressing a discussion in the city.
BNP arranged the discussion at the Jatiya Press Club as part of its two-day programme marking the 40th death anniversary of Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani, who died on November 17 in 1976.
Claiming that the government is carrying out incidents one after another, Mosharraf said it is repressing BNP leaders and activists putting the blame on the country’s most popular party.
He said, the government now wants to gag the opposition voice implicating its leaders and activists in cases not only over Nasirnagar attacks but also other attacks that took place recently.
On October 30, a group of religious zealots carried out a synchronised attack on Hindu people, vandalising around 100 homes and temples and looting their valuables, including cash, gold ornaments and idols, television and mobile phones. The two-hour mayhem reportedly followed a Facebook post from the account of a local fisherman, ‘hurting the religious sentiment’ of Muslims.
Unidentified miscreants set fire to at least six houses of Hindus at different villages in Nasirnagar upazila on November 5 and torched another Hindu house at Changapur village in the same upazila on November 13 amid huge outcry following the previous attack on the Hindu community. The BNP leader claimed that there is no ‘democracy, freedom of expression and people’ in the country.
He also asked his party leaders and activists to follow the philosophy of Moulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani in the current political situation. The BNP leader also criticised Awami League for not observing the death anniversary of its founder Moulana Bhasani.
Presided over by BNP vice-chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu, the discussion was addressed, among others, by BNP chairperson’s advisers Ataur Rahman Dhali and Nazmul Haque Nannu and BNP joint secretary general Khairul Kabir Khokan.
