As the BNP chief Khaleda Zia called upon the party workers and Dhaka residents to stand by Hefazat, the opposition party announced a protest rally for Monday in front of its Naya Paltan headquarters in the city. The decision to hold the protest rally was taken at a late night meeting of the Standing Committee of Bangladesh Nationalist Party held at its Gulshan office, BNP sources said. The BNP Standing Committee also condemned the attack on what it described as the “peaceful rally” of Hefazat-e-Islam in Dhaka on Sunday and demanded immediate arrest of and punishment to those responsible for it.
The opposition BNP is also learnt to be planning for a nationwide rail, road and waterways blockade to be followed by a 48-hour non-stop shutdown. The party will finalize the programme after consultations with the component parties of the 18-party alliance.
Talking to newsmen in the middle of the meeting, BNP Standing Committee member MK Anwar claimed that the student and youth fronts of Awami League supported by the members of the law-enforcement agencies carried out the attacks on Hefazat workers.
As a result their attacks, he said, several people were killed and many injured. We condemn these attacks and demand immediate arrest of those responsible, Anwar said adding we also demand punishment to the attackers. Hefazat’s rally was announced about a month ago and it was entirely peaceful, he claimed.
Anwar said his party also condemned Awami League’s rejection of their 48-hour ultimatum for an announcement on the restoration of a non-party and neutral interim caretaker government to oversee the next general election. Awami League’s rejection of their ultimatum unmasked its real character, the BNP leader added.
-With The Independent input
