Special Correspondent :
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said that his party MPs has taken oath being instructed by Senior Vice Chairman and also acting chief in exile Tarique Rahman.
The BNP leaders who took oath on Monday are Ukil Abdus Sattar from Brahmanbarhia-2 constituency, Aminul Islam from Chanpainawabganj-2 and Mosharraf Hossain from Bogura-4.
Earlier, Harun-ur-Rashid from Chanpainawabganj-3 took oath. Zahidur Rahman, elected from Thakurgaon-3 seat, was sworn in as the first BNP MP in the 11th parliament on Thursday last.
The BNP won only six seats in the Dec 30 polls. Mirza Fakhrul though did not take oath, he is likely to come with same decision very shortly, political circle assumed.
He is now telling about new political strategy. “In the context of complex crisis in the national politics, we decided to join the parliament as part of our movement pressing home our demand for the immediate release of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her proper treatment and restoration of democracy in the country,” Fakhrul said.
“We also expect that we, along with the people, would be able to compel the government to hold a free and fair national election, ensure Khaleda Zia’s release and rebuild the country on the national consensus,” he said.
Khaleda has been serving 17 years in two corruption cases since February last year while her son Tarique is a fugitive convict. He has been sentenced to up to life in jail for money laundering, corruption and the deadly Aug 21, 2004 grenade attack on an Awami League rally.
Interestingly, Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi hours earlier reiterated the party’s stance against joining parliament at a media conference. He protested about Tarique’s decision on joining parliament, saying that the party is not run on instructions from a single person.
Fakhrul, however, clarified the authority of Tarique saying that BNP’s policy-making body National Standing Committee gave him (Tarique) the powers to take decision on the party in a meeting on Sunday, and Tarique took the decision as part of their democratic efforts to make them most of limited opportunities.
What’s surprising is that Fakhrul is giving contradictory statements about joining the parliament. There is no similarity between his statements given before after taking oaths of his party leaders.
We earlier several times had pointed out that BNP’s decision not to launch any political movement and not joining the parliament were not right decisions at all. If everything goes on the directives of exiled Tarique then Fakhrul is what for? Where is the leadership of Fakhrul as the party’s Secretary General?
We think, a quick shifting of stance cannot bring any good for a political party. It’s unwise too. Does Fakhrul think a wrong decision will be justified if the directive comes from Tarique? If he thinks so, then he is no more a leader of BNP.
In this changing political scenario, Fakhrul Islam has no reason not to join the parliament.
