Staff Reporter :
Police on Saturday foiled a seminar of Zia Parishad in the capital and sent back the chief guest of the programme, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
“Awami League-led government has destroyed the minimum democratic values in the country, only to perpetuate its power. It was an instance of their fight against practicing democracy in the country,” Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told the journalists present at the venue.
The programme was scheduled to be held at 10:30am, but police arriving at the venue asked the organisers to stop the programme as there was no permission to hold such function.
As Fakhrul reached the venue at around 11:00am. Police told him that there was no permission to hold any programme there.
The seminar titled ‘Citizen’s Rights, Rule of Law and Democracy: Bangladesh Perspective’ was to be held in the seminar room of the Institution of Engineers Bangladesh demanding release of BNP’s imprisoned Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. Zia Parishad Chairman Kabir Murad said, “We have submitted application to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police on July 2 seeking permission. We got verbal permission on July 4 from the police authorities.”
He said, “But the police now asked to show them letter of permission. They gave us verbal permission, then how can we show them written permission? As there was no letter, the police asked us to close the programme.”
Mirza Fakhrul said, “No political party’s programme was supposed to be held today. So a non-political organisation called the meeting and the government did not allow them to hold it. We strongly condemn and protest such attitude of the government.”
He regrets that police have now chosen the path of repression and were working for the continuation of misrule.
Organisers said, a large number of teachers of different universities, physicians, engineers and persons of other professions gathered at the venue around 10:30am before the police foiled the programme.
