UNB, Dhaka :Condemning the arrest of Jubo Dal president Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and other BNP leaders and activists, BNP on Saturday said the government move was part of its continued fascist behaviour.In a statement, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “Police have created a heinous and spiteful situation by suddenly arresting Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal and 80 other leaders and activists as they met at Alal’s Mohammapur house.” He said Awami League is repressing opposition leaders and activists and common people to protect its existence as the ruling party has realised that it has lost popularity due to its misrule.Accusing the government of not permitting them to hold their peaceful rallies, Fakhrul said Awami League is trying to rule the country by intimidating people. “But they can’t realise that their arrogance and limitless misdeeds will invite only dire consequences for them.”He alleged that the power-greedy current government is crossing the last limit of autocracy in repressing people fearing a mass upsurge as people have started getting united and raising their voice against the Awami League’s misrule.Fakhrul demanded the government immediately release Alal and other arrested party men.Meanwhile, BNP joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office claimed that the government arrested 80 opposition leaders and activists, including Alal, to harass them by implicating them in ‘false’ cases.”We demand the government release Alal and other arrestees and withdraw the false cases filed against them,” Rizvi said. Earlier in the day, police in a drive arrested 64 leaders and activists of BNP and its fronts, including Jubo Dal president Syed Moazzem Hossain Alal, from his residence in the capital. BNP, however, claimed their 80 leaders and activists were held.Deputy Commissioner (Tejgaon Division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Biplob Kumar Sarkar said a team of Mohammadpur police, acting on secret information, conducted a raid on Alal’s Lalmatia house and arrested him along with 63 other leaders and activists of BNP and its fronts around 10:30 am.”Police arrested them while coming out of Alal’s house after attending a meeting arranged there to work out a plan to carry out subversive acts during Sunday’s hartal,” he added.
