Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Nationalist Party has come down heavily on the government for suppressing its ongoing democratic movement by unleashing indiscriminate torture on its activists.
“The ‘fascist’ government wants to suppress our movement by killing people with bullets. But movement cannot be stifled with bullets. The government has to be toppled through movement,” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Monday.
He made the remark at his party office in the capital while taking part in the ‘gayebana janaza’ of the BNP activist Abdur Rahim Matbor, who was shot dead during a clash between BNP and the police in the country’s biggest island district Bhola on Sunday.
Apart from killing of Matbor, some 50 other BNP men were wounded during the clash. Such action of the police has sparked sharp reaction among BNP.
BNP held countrywide programmes including gayebana janaza (funeral prayer in absence of the dead) to protest the incident but the protest also faced resistance by the police and local administration.
Commenting on the shedding of bloods of the BNP’s democracy loving people by the bullets of the ‘fascist’ government, he said,
“Police fired bullets at the peaceful programme without any provocation. Abdur Rahim has been killed. Hundreds of other BNP men have been wounded.”
Warning the government that movement cannot be suppressed with bullets, Mirza Fakhrul said, “Torture and bullets cannot strangle movement. Abdur Rahim’s blood has proved that people of this country do not fear the fascist regime. They are ready to fight for democracy and sacrifice their lives for their rights.”
Mentioning that the blood of Abdur Rahim will not go in vain, BNP leader said, “Bhola is drenched with the blood of my brother. This mourning has to be converted into power. Holding Abdur Rahim’s spirit of sacrifice, we have to expedite our movement to defeat the government.”
Thousands of BNP leaders and workers participated in the gayebana janaza in front of the central party office at Nayapaltan where BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Nazrul Islam Khan, BNP Chairperson’s advisory council member Aman Ullah Aman, Abdus Salam, BNP Vice Chairman Major (retd) Hifiz Uddin, Nagorik Oikya president Mahmudur Rahman Manna, National People’s Party (NPP) Chairman Fariduzzaman Farhad and Lutfur Rahman of Jatiya Ganotantrik Party were present.
Bhola district BNP brought out a procession from the district BNP office premises at Mohajanpatti area on Sunday morning in protest against nationwide load-shedding of power and mismanagement in energy distribution.
But a clash broke out with the BNP leaders and activists when police intercepted the procession.
Later, police lobbed teargas shells and fired rubber bullets to bring the situation under control.
Police and witnesses said at least 50 people including Bhola Sadar Model Police Station’s officer-in-charge (OC Investigation) Arman Hossain were injured during the clash.
A Swecchhasebak Dal activist, identified as Abdur Rahim, was killed as police opened fire during the clash, while 20 others got bullet ridden.
Apart from the gayebana janaza, BNP will also hold protest programme across the country on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Fakhrul Islam on Monday paid a visit to former Chhatradal President of Bhola district Nur-e-Alam, who is injured in the incident, at Comfort Hospital in the capital.
On the other hand, BNP has protested the incident across the country including the capital.
BNP held a protest meeting in front of the Jatiya Press Club in the capital to protest the killing incident in Bhola.
In Barishal, BNP brought out procession and rally in front of party office where the leaders said that police fired bullets in a planned way. Attacks and enforced disappearance cannot suppress BNP to achieve their desired goal.
