BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has alleged that the government has filed a treason case against party Chairperson Khaleda Zia out of “vengeance” in a bid to “remove” her from politics in Bangladesh.
Hours after a court on Monday summoned Khaleda in the case, Fakhrul made the allegation at a conference of the Jatiyatabadi Krishak Dal. “This is a case of political vengeance. They are scared of Khaleda Zia’s presence in Bangladesh politics and that’s why they want to remove her,” the BNP’s acting secretary general said.
Fakhrul served the warning that the people of Bangladesh would never accept such an attempt to push Khaleda Zia out of politics.
Mamtaj Uddin Mehedi, a Central Working Committee member of the Awami League and former secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, after obtaining permission from the home ministry, filed the case against the BNP chief on Monday over her remarks on the number of martyrs in the War of Liberation.
Taking cognisance of the case, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court asked Khaleda Zia to appear before it on March 3 to explain her position.
At a discussion on Dec 21 last year, Khaleda had expressed her doubts over the actual number of martyrs in the Liberation War, saying that varied figures had been mentioned on different occasions.
Explaining her comment, Mirza Fakhrul said, “What did she say at that programme? There is no sign of treason in her remark. Rather, she had said there should be an accurate figure (about the number of martyrs) so that we could pay respect to the real martyrs. I had explained this to the nation through a statement.”
