BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced yesterday that the party’s prescheduled rally in Gazipur would be held tomorrow at any cost while Gazipur district administration imposed Section 144 in the district as both BNP and Bangladesh Chhatra League, have crossed swords centering around Saturday’s rally at Bhawal Bodr-E-Alam Government College ground in the Sadar upazila.No political parties would be allowed to hold rallies at Bhawal Bodr-E-Alam Government College ground in Gazipur Sadar upazila on Saturday in the interest of law and order, Nurul Islam, Gazipur District Commissioner (DC) told reporters on Friday. He said neither BNP nor Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) obtained permission to stage rallies at the venue on that day.BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia today called for emergency meeting of the party’s height policy making body, National Standing Committee, in wake of the ban on political activities in Gazipur ahead of the party’s Saturday’s public meeting there.A Dhaka court earlier placed BNP standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy on a three-day remand on Thursday over Bakshibazar violence. Metropolitan Magistrate Younus Khan passed the order after police produced the BNP leader before his court around 3:30pm with a 10-day remand prayer. At least nine other BNP activists, including Jatiyatabadi Jubo Dal Gazipur chapter Vice President Bashir Ahmed, were detained earlier ahead of the party’s planned rally there. BNP spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir criticised the government for imposing Section 144 and said it had been done in a planned way to keep BNP away from political activities. He also announced that the party’s prescheduled rally for Saturday would be held in Gazipur at any cost.It is a great misfortune as a nation that no respect for the average citizens welfare is shown by anyone of our major political parties. Our parties seem destined to clash on yet another orgy of violence over the holding of a rally. Flexing muscles says a great deal about the nature of the parties in power and our political system — one party wants to remain in power while another wants to get it by any means possible — both in their methods and thoughts remain pretty much the same — but no heed is paid to the sufferings of the individual citizen — who is the ultimate arbiter of power in a democracy. Both parties should remember the Fables of Aesop where the oak and the willow compete for mastery — the oak remains stubborn and unyielding but falls during a storm while the reed remains victorious. The moral — both parties must acquiesce in certain matters while a storm threatens the Constitution of the state — if both parties think they are oaks — proud and unyielding, the result will benefit no one.
