UNB :
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday alleged that a writ petition has been filed over the date of birth of party chairperson Khaleda Zia based on a ‘fake’ medical report only to confuse people.
“The gentleman who filed the writ is not personally aggrieved. It’s not their responsibility to decide her birthday,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference, the BNP leader said, “As there is no politics in the country now, their purpose is to confuse the nation by raising such (birthday) issues and try to divert people’s attention to a different direction from the main problems.”
Fakhrul said the writ was filed based on a fake and false report in the name of Evercare Hospital. “No such report has been made by Evercare. The date they put in the report has been done falsely. I don’t know how the court issued an order based on such a false report.”
Earlier on Sunday, the High Court sought relevant documents from the government to determine BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s “genuine” date of birth following a writ petition.
Fakhrul said the High Court’s such an order has manifested that the judiciary is not free as the country has been under ‘one-party rule’. “Judiciary shouldn’t have taken this issue into its account.”
He said many people in Bangladesh have one genuine date of birth and another date of birth in the certificate. “The reason is that, especially during our generation, parents could not remember the date of birth correctly nor did they maintain the diary. It can’t be an issue.”
The BNP leader said the government can announce that no one can be born on a particular date. “You’ve to think about giving birth to a child by calculation. There’s no other way.”
Fakhrul said their party standing committee members at their meeting on Saturday voiced deep concerns over the government’s move to shift all the services relating to National Identity (NID) cards from the Election Commission to the Home Ministry.
“The Election Commission is an independent body while the Home Ministry is under the government. So, the minimum possibility of free, fair and credible elections will be destroyed if the authority over the NID card is transferred to the Home Ministry,” he said.
The BNP leader said their standing committee thinks the minimum democratic space and the process of peaceful transfer of power will be ruined forever if the government’s ‘politically motivated’ decision on the NID service is implemented.
