The Awami League-led government's fear that it would lose the next election prompted it to intensify repression to crush the opposition, BNP standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Mia said on Sunday.
Speaking at a meeting of lawyers he said that Awami League knows too well that it would lose a fair election held under a non-partisan caretaker government.
That's why, he said, the AL led government was preparing to hold the next elections under its own supervision to be able to be able to continue in power.
The meeting was hosted by Jatiyatabadi Lawyers' Forum at the hall room of the Supreme Court in protest against police assaults during last week's 48-hour hartal on the opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque in the capital city and on lawyers in Khulna.
He said that the Awami League led government's popularity sharply declined in last two and a half years for failing to keep its pre election commitments to the people. He said that the government did nothing for the people.
That's why, he said, the AL led government intensified repression to silence the opposition.
He said that with the same objective the government withdrew all cases against ruling Awami League men while it was filing 'false' against BNP leaders and workers.
Mia said that the Awami League led government 'stifled democracy' in Bangladesh by its repression of the opposition.
He said that the entire government was behind the police assault on Farroque, now under treatment at a hospital.
BNP joint secretary general Mahbubuddin Khokan, lawyers Joynal Abedin, Nitai Roy Chowdhury and Gias Uddin Ahmed spoke, among others.
Mia said that Awami League had darkened the country's history in 1975 by introducing one-party BKSAL rule.
He said that now Sheikh Hasina was treading the path of her father by amending the Constitutions to reestablish Awami League's grip on power.
He said that Sheikh Hasina also dropped from the preamble of the Constitution the inscription that 'absolute trust faith in the Almighty Allah' as one of the fundamental principles of the constitution.
Mahbubuddin Khokan, also a Supreme Court lawyer, said that the AL led government was wrong in stating that the rules of procedure allowed no procession or gathering in and around the parliament complex.
He said, 'This provision is not applicable for Members of Parliament, because they can hold demonstrations in and around the parliament complex.'
He said that the prime minister and the home minister ought to apologise for such misinterpretation of the Rules of Procedure of parliament.
Source : New Age
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