The acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday alleged, alluding to the shipping minister Shajahan Khan, that a minister had started a new game to destroy apparel industry, He said this at a discussion Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Muktijuddher Prajanma organised at the National Press Club. Fakhrul said that when the situation in the apparel sector was almost quiet and factories were running smoothly, suddenly a minister emerged as ‘the leader of apparel workers.’
He said that the minister had held a rally of apparel workers in Suhrawardy Udyan by closing the factories, unleashing vandalism and forcing the workers to join the rally and created a chaos.
As a result, anarchy and unrest broke out in the apparel sector, Fakhrul said. The unrest is created with a far-sighted plan so that the national economy cannot flourish and the country cannot stand on its feet.
Fakhrul condemned the violence and asked the government to immediately resolve the problem protecting the interest of both apparel factory owners and workers so that the sector could progress smoothly.
Now local and foreign conspiracies have begun to destroy the apparel sector in a well-coordinated manner, he said.
Fakhrul said the sector keeps alive the economy of Bangladesh, earning foreign exchange and making big contribution to the economy. Fifty lakh women workers work in the sector, he added.
The BNP leader urged Muktijuddher Prajanma to take part in the greater movement to be launched the leadership of Khaleda Zia after her public meetings in divisional headquarters this month to force the government to hold the next general elections under a non-party, caretaker government.
Fakhrul said that a big question before the nation was whether the next elections would be held. He said that when a call was made nationally and internationally for holding the elections in free, fair and inclusive manner, the ruling Awami League wanted to hold the elections under a partisan government.
He said that the Awami League did not believe in democracy but in dictatorship to establish one-party rule in the guise of democracy.
Fakhrul said that the Awami League is not a party of freedom fighters; it is rather a party of refugees. The Awami League did not join the independence war, he alleged.
He said that the BNP was a party of freedom fighters and the founder of the party Ziaur Rahman had proclaimed independence and fought in the independence ware in 1971.
The Muktijuddher Prajanma president, Shama Obayed presided over the discussion. BNP leaders Ziaur Rahman Khan and Ismail Hossain Bengal also spoke.
-With New Age input
