Staff Reporter :The BNP has strongly criticised the government for its ‘planned’ to link the party with al-Qaeda and said that the government is doing this in an attempt to get close to the USA and the West.”The government’s attempt to link the BNP with the audio message of al-Qaeda chief Ayman-al-Zawahiri is politically motivated. The government wants the support of the USA and other Western countries by talking of so-called al-Qaeda threats, since they rejected the January-5 controversial elections,” said BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. He said this at a press conference organised in the party’s Nayapaltan central office in the city on Monday. It was summoned to express the party’s reaction to the ruling party MPs and Ministers’ accusation in and outside the Parliament that the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami had connection with the recent video message. AL MPs and Ministers, including Matia Chowdhury and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, attacked the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami for the video message, saying that they were friends of the global terror network. Mirza Fakhrul questioned the authenticity of the video message. He said that the ruling party leaders were issuing false and indecent statements. He also said that the whole world rejected the January-5 ‘one-sided and voters less’ election. It was discussed in the USA Senate and they had asked the government to hold a fresh mid-term polls within short time. That is why the government is trying to gain the USA favour citing al-Qaeda issue, he added. He urged the government to give up its ‘suicidal ploy to divide the nation and the people for its own political interests’. He claimed that the BNP had never supported terrorism and militancy. The BNP spokesman came down heavily on Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury for her statements in the Parliament. “Matia Chowdhury said that Zawahiri came to this country three times under the supervision of BNP and Jamaat.
