Dhaka, Dec 14 (The New Age): The Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Friday alleged that the arrest of
the Jatiya Party chairman, Hussein Muhammad Ershad, had resulted from
his unwillingness to take part in the next parliamentary elections.
The acting BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in a statement also demanded an immediate release of Ershad.
He said, ‘Ershad was arrested as he refused to take part in the stage-managed polls.’
‘We
are worried because of the way he was arrested. The arrest of Ershad
proves that there is not an iota of democracy in the country,’ he added.
Ersahd announced the boycott of the next polls severing ties with the Awami League-led ruling alliance.
His
being ‘picked up’ by the Rapid Action Battalion and being taken to
Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka on Thursday night soon after the
execution of Jamaat’s assistant secretary general Abdul Quader Molla had
given rise to speculations in the political arena.
Jatiya Party
presidium member Kazi Firoz Rashid on Thursday night claimed that his
party chief had been arrested on Thursday night.
But the battalion’s
director (legal and media wing) Habibur Rahman, however, set it aside
saying that they had taken Ershad to the CMH as he had suddenly felt
sick.
On Friday noon, GM Quader, younger brother of Ershad, also
criticised the authorities concerned for detaining Ershad adding that
the way Ershad had been taken to the hospital was not usual.
At a
news conference, he said that in keeping with Ershad’s order, all party
candidates would withdraw their nomination papers as Ershad was still
the party chief.