UNB :
BNP on Wednesday alleged that its leaders and workers have been implicated in cases filed over recent communal violence as part of a government’s blueprint to clear the field ahead of the next national election.
“After any incident, the government always files cases against BNP leaders and activists without examining the fact with a motive to suppress and eliminate its opponents. The same way now BNP leaders and activists are being implicated in the case filed over the attacks
on puja mandaps,” he said. Speaking at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, the BNP leader also said the government is trying to protect the real offenders by arresting the opposition activists over the communal violence.
“The main purpose of filing these cases is to harass BNP leaders and activists, keep them out of politics and remove them from the field before the upcoming election. We think Awami League has been doing this all the time to survive in politics,” he observed.
Fakhrul said 60 cases have so far been filed against 15,096 people over the recent communal violence.
He said police arrested 146 people in these cases and all of them belong to the BNP. “But you, the media workers, know that the ruling party has direct patronage behind every incident. They (govt) are dividing the nation and destroying the communal harmony only to gain their narrow political gains and cling to power.”
Stating that their party’s high-profile probe team, led by Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, already visited different violence-affected areas, the BNP leader said no one of their party leaders and activists, including Barkatullah Bulu have any involvement with any communal incident.
He alleged that a false case was filed against Barkatullah Bulu over the communal violence in Noakhali by taking the deposition of a Jubo Dal activist under section 164 forcefully through torture. “We think it’s a false attempt to harass BNP leaders and workers, including Barkatullah Bulu and Kamakhya Chandra Das.”
